A Matter of Time
by The Queen of Mean
Summary: "She knew it would be a long time and that he might never feel the same way, but if there was one thing she knew, it was that she would always be there for him, as a friend, a lover, his support system and a source of unconditional comfort." JnJ part 3.
1. Prologue

Ladies and Gentlemen! The WINNER! This submission caught my attention immediately and I think you all will agree with me on why I chose it. I received many good ones and if you participated, I thank you! I had a great time reading them and am looking forward to getting this story going! Anyways, without further ado, here is your prologue to A Matter of Time, written by _Psychadelicious. _Send her your kudos or feel free to leave her a review on this chapter! I'm sure she would greatly appreciate it.

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. Prologue

As a matter of fact, the six hour car trip (seven hours and nine minutes counting traffic) was spent in electrically charged silence. The radio had been playing for two of these hours before Joker - who had been quietly seething to himself and muttering inaudibly - had flicked the knob off in a sudden burst of furious energy which caused Jayde to flinch out of her window-coma. Trying to play off her involuntary reaction would have done no good and in all likelihood wouldn't have been entirely convincing so after collecting herself she slunk back into position, hovering in the space between the seat and the door, as if she were trying to mold herself into as little surface area as possible. Her hands curled childishly under her chin help support her head, sluggish from the foggy hours. It seemed pointless to fidget or to try to talk, there was nothing to be said.

They had been forced to roll the windows up due to an interlude of sputtering rain which Joker had pointed out numbly before pulling up the window triggers simultaneously. This alone had caught Jayde off guard. A simple emotionless phrase, "S'raining." had been spoken entirely too quickly and before she had time to register the crack in the crushing silence it was long over, replaced by the eeking mechanical drag of rising windows.

The wake left in this fresher silence hit Jayde like a spiked wall, leaving new questions that have no innate answer to be left gaping and exposed to various mental elements. Jayde remained mute, mulling over this significantly mundane statement and deciding to let it speak for itself, which it did. It would be painfully futile to try striking up conversation; anything said would either climax awkwardly or not at all, perhaps fading out of existence by sheer will; the conversation throwing itself valiantly against the windows hoping to escape from its own hopelessness. Jayde entertained the notion that any conversation would be bluntly switched off like the radio. She couldn't say she blamed him, she didn't feel like talking much either. Still, even irrelevant conversation, no matter how brief, would have been healthier than the hypersensitive silence. It was practically volatile, this atmosphere of heavy silence, not deafening in the least. If anything the silence focused all other sounds: breathing, sniffing, coughing, rain spattering softly on the windows, the hum of the engine, gravel under the wheels. It was almost as if the volume of reality had been turned up full blast.

Countless times Jayde had to fight down the urge to ask a question with such vigor she thought Joker might be able to hear the clockwork grinding in her head. She could chip a tooth for how hard her teeth were clamped shut. Every time she would catch herself trying to bite her own teeth she would force herself to remove the pressure and she berated herself, thinking about her dental health. However this could only provide seconds worth of distraction and before she knew it her jaw had contracted again under cover of the meager mental diversion. This tiresome internal battle took a heavy toll on Jayde's stamina, worn down as it was by withered emotion. She began to feel consciously aware of how heavy her eyelids felt, as if they were begging to give shelter and relief to her red, beaten eyes. They were swelling, and every labored blink triggered a fresh burn, reminding her to stay awake. Jayde was not about to let her body win out, no matter how her eyes wailed or what kind of mean, nasty, ugly pictures her mind gratuitously painted and replayed.

One particular idea held her mind in an inescapable choke-hold. The silence in the car was diametrically opposite to the torrential downpour in Jayde's head.

_It's going to take time for him to come around again but if there is one person who can give him love, it's you..._

_But what if he won't let me?_ The question, seemingly silly from an outside perspective, plagued Jayde like a vicious little mosquito, bloated and greedy. Joker's hostile silence was proof enough that he was not emotionally equipped to handle that kind of admission. By all rights, he could do something regrettably stupid and then they would both be in a world of misery and absence. It was true, they weren't exactly frolicking in sunny meadows at the moment, but at least they had each other. That being said, if she out and out told Joker she loved him the way she did, it could only end badly. With Joker and Tre's brotherly relationship so abruptly ended it would be a smart bet of enlightenment proportions that almost any romantic inclination was firmly and indefinitely on hold and it would be in Jayde's enlightened self-interest to put a respectful distance between herself and Joker for the time being. This, however, absolutely could not go on forever, she was sure of this much.

Maybe not in the near future, but soon enough, Joker would need sympathy. Not pity. Never pity. A day would come when he needed Jayde's love and affection, so readily given, it was, for all intents and purposes, at his beck and call; if Joker was aware of this Jayde didn't know, but she held out hope that he did. He had to understand that he had her love running hot and cold on tap. If this wasn't apparent by this point in their lugubrious relationship, then it might never be. If that was the case, Jayde would eventually have to suck it up and take drastic measures which she hadn't decided upon yet and selfishly hoped she would not have to. With luck and gratuitous amounts of patience, Jayde felt confident that reciprocation of her quiet feelings would come. But in light of their grieving, gloomy situation and the change of scenery, she had to wonder how long she could hold out. Seeds of doubt were being sown. All the same, the moment of truth would come sooner or later – sooner rather than later – and Jayde figured this bare information to be comforting in itself.

Surreptitiously, she looked at Joker's stiff face from her periphery. In the inky darkness and still without makeup, he looked pale and unblinking at the flat curve of the road, chewing on his cheeks, undoubtedly lost in some dark thought. Jayde began to quiet her own thoughts, until one little glistening vow made her smile. _I will give my love to him..._ _I'll give it to him whether he likes it or not. _

And she did smile, having the tact to turn her face completely to the window and smile at the passing landscape. Around her aura she felt suddenly peaceful, as if high from the mental declaration. She would be strong, be an anchor of reality and peace for Joker, especially now and whenever he would need it in the future. She would act as a temple, and be steady.

Dark trees grew blurry and wet and Jayde realized with a nauseating jolt of panic and that she was crying. Staring vacuously as he was, Joker did not notice Jayde's unexpected emotional upheaval, much to Jayde's silent, grateful relief. She tried not to sniffle pitifully, or wipe her eyes, or draw any kind of attention to her tears. Soon she stopped crying but the tranquil smile remained shivering over her mouth.

A horrendously entertaining and vivid scenario materialized in her mind in which she made her love apparent by grappling Joker while he was still driving causing him to swerve frantically in utter confusion as to the languid smile still present on Jayde's unflinching face as the Escalade rammed into a tree or road sign, somehow splitting the car symmetrically for imaginations' sake. Outside of the confines of Jayde's mind in quiet reality, she felt another strong urge to laugh. She really did want to hug Joker for the validation of her feelings but resisted the compulsion to even look in his direction, smarting as he was, she did not want to provoke him and regardless of this valid reason she also lacked the base energy to do so. An almost hysterical compulsion for action smothered by inertia.

Joker's eyes had been drooping as well, the dark circles under them felt sensitive to every labored blink. He knew they would have to find a place to sleep soon. Pass out, rather, because Joker had a nagging feeling that he would get no sleep wherever he decided to stop, however the idea of staying awake all night in a dingy motel bed sounded better than staying awake all night in the car. His mind was strangely blank, he hadn't thought of a single significant thing the whole time in the car. He only seemed to register the shift in scenery, various license plates – one of which had almost made him want to laugh – local flora, the transition from evening to night, and now the only thing on his mind was deciding upon a place to sleep. Wringing his fingers around the wheel, he collected all his mental efforts into a single thought at a time, anything else would lead to certain destruction and heavy confusion. They were long since off the highway and coming up on a motel-convenience store chain. He made a sharp left into the parking lot, gently stirring Jayde. She looked questioningly at Joker, the first time during the entire seven hours but still she refrained from asking the obvious.

"We're stopping here for the night," Joker informed her curtly, intentionally looking at everything but her, even having the bad taste to blink laboriously when his eyes finally flitted over Jayde's pitiful expression. "We'll hit Chicago in the morning. Get us a room." Joker took several hundred dollars from his pocket and held the aloft. He stared blankly at a wet spot on Jayde's shoulder where tears had stained her shirt. He swallowed this information and loudly cleared his throat to speed Jayde's reaction.

After a moment's hesitation over deciding what to say Jayde simply took the offered wad of twenties with a nod and an unassuming "Okay." She exited the car, walking slowly. The reality of the crunching sound of stepped-on gravel acted like caffeine to her; suddenly and inexplicably her eyelids felt lighter and opened wide into the refreshing night air and she helped herself to great greedy gulps of it. They weren't close enough to the city to smell it and she was almost sorry to go inside.

Once inside, however, she was sorry. It was like walking into someone else's nightmare; vividly awful but holding a deja vu kind of familiarity. The wall behind the desk was fake pine paneling and the other three were decked in faded floral vomit. A wicker living room set in the corner opposite the ATM had been meticulously arranged and rearranged, judging from the fresh imprints still in the pink polyester carpet. The place reeked of rejected college applications and cheap lubricant. At least one of which was drifting from the pores of a pinch-faced, middle-aged woman with horn rimmed glasses picking at a knuckle scab with vigorous determination. This was the manager. Her name was Tandy, or so read the scuffed name tag. Jayde cautiously cleared her throat, unsure of what else would get the woman's attention while at the same time itching to leave. Tandy's head shot up immediately and her mouth spread like her obnoxiously large teeth were smeared with Vaseline. She caressed her name tag with a greasy finger, a nervous habit. "Hello darling! Little late to be driving by now, isn't it?"

Jayde forced a smile in return, and tried to keep the derision and impatience out of her voice. "That's why I'm here." She smacked her lips frankly, eyeing dead flowers housed in kitschy ceramic.

"Of course it is!" She clasps her hands in excitement. Blood pooled between her fingers. "You'd like a room? Smoking or non-smoking?"

"Smoking," Jayde answered reflexively before remembering that she had no more cigarettes.

"Is it just you?" She asks strangely, gauging gossip, as if it would break the soul-crushing boredom obviously present in Tandy's mediocre life.

"No, my boyfriend's parking the car." Even stranger, the sentence came out cleanly, naturally, much to Jayde's silent surprise. She tried to lower her eyebrows from her widow's peak but they seemed to be stuck there. She tried to play it off with another smile. Tandy noticed nothing, staring at her computer screen typing slowly. If she did notice something off with Jayde's expression she must have thought she was simply inquisitive.

Tandy slowly raised a hand to lower her glasses to the bridge of her nose, appearing business-like, "Room twelve is available; it's right by the ice machine."

Jayde shrugged compliantly, "Perfect. How much do I owe you?"

The room was not much different to reception; unreal flowers reminiscent of ugly Vegas carpeting had absorbed into the curtains which matched the dusty bedspread. The carpet was a richer shade of pink from less exposure to light. Furniture was in no way spectacular, all fake wood grain. Two plastic cups sat on the dresser on napkins as if to distract from the fact the cups were plastic and disposable. Joker studied the room intensely before running his nails along his scalp. "Get what you need for tonight from your bags, but don't unpack too much." Jayde nodded silently, feeling that this needed no more of a response. The gravel-caffeine had not worn off so Jayde, beginning to feel restless in the presence of so many dead and undead flowers, decided to visit the convenience store later for some cigarettes, not having had one since leaving Dotcom, Gotham, and everything behind.

Joker seemed to be more talkative than he had all day; this was partially catalyzed by Jayde's lack of verbal involvement. "I'm uh, gonna grab a shower. Are you going to bed?" He asked hopefully.

"Not yet. I was thinking of getting some smokes for tomorrow. Figured I could do that now." Joker nodded dismissively, waving a hand in the direction of the door on his way to the bathroom. Jayde took this as her queue. Before committing herself to a walking trip, Jayde picked up the keys from the bed and sifting through boxes and bags in the trunk of the Escalade. After fishing out a shirt and pajama bottoms from an obscure cardboard box she hoisted a brown duffel bag with some of her day clothes over her shoulder and dumped the lot inside. The shower was already running and all Jayde heard was the straining of pipes and water hitting tile. Or cheap linoleum. She wasn't sure what the bathroom looked like yet.

Still in possession of a generous amount of hard currency, Jayde left the room, shutting the door deftly so as not to arouse any kind of reaction – good or bad – from Joker. Jayde wanted his shower to be undisturbed to give them both the best chance at a solid night's sleep. The air outside had cooled down but there was no wind. Despite this, Jayde had to wrap her arms around herself to keep warm. She quickened her pace and the rush of warm blood to her toes helped even her out. Thankfully, the store was decorated nothing like the motel. In fact, it wasn't decorated at all. Stark plaster walls, generic office ceiling tile and nothing on the walls but shelves. Even after only minutes at a time spent looking at 70's throwback wallpaper, the lack thereof was a huge relief.

As Jayde explored the aisles she began to realize something that she couldn't put into words until she took a good long look at the shelf behind the counter. She wanted to say goodbye properly. She walked purposefully to the distant-eyed man behind the counter, "I'd like a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of Wild Turkey, please."

Feeling superficially proud of her bounty as she walked back to the room, Jayde felt that bright feeling slink away the closer she got. The shower was still running and the pipes were still complaining; Jayde shut the door with some finesse, trying not to disturb Joker. She placed the bottle next to the TV and changed into the pajamas she had laid out previously.

Then very deliberately, Jayde aligned the two cups and poured a hefty measure into each then set the bottle down. The seconds passed like the wait between earthquake and aftershock. Jayde gulped down her shot, two streams trickled down the corners of her mouth which she wiped numbly away with her sleeve. The bourbon would leave a stain. She decided not to refill her cup; the memorial shot had served it's purpose.

"To Tre," She muttered thickly, raising her empty cup to nothing, to nobody. The cup made a hollow sound when she placed it next to Joker's filled one. Jayde felt sure he would understand. She wasn't going to force him to take the shot, even joked with herself that she would take it if Joker didn't want it. She left the bottle and cups on the dresser, lay on the bed and turned on the TV, feeling snug in her pajamas but not enough to get under the covers. Briefly, she debated pretending to be asleep when Joker got out of the shower to afford him some privacy but thought better of it. It couldn't possibly be any different than the car ride. If Joker refused to talk, Jayde wouldn't force him. Having that kind of respect for Joker's feelings left Jayde feeling happier knowing that she understood him enough to be tactful instead of tending to her own wounds first.

After twenty minutes of the cooking channel Jayde started to worry if Joker was ever coming out. Normally his showers were quick and to the point. Almost as soon as the irrational thought had entered her mind it was replaced by subtle relief when she could no longer hear the pipes rattling over the TV The slight moment of panic – directed at her half-baked rehashed plan of feigning sleep – aside, Jayde felt calm and ready to sleep soon enough. She only wanted to say goodnight. Her eyes never left the TV screen when the door opened and Joker emerged from the mist wearing only gray sweatpants and a towel around his head. If Jayde's eyes had strayed she would have laughed. Joker's eyes flickered from Jayde's blank stare to the TV and then to the bottle and two cups next to the TV

He unraveled the towel and threw it to the mercy of the ugly floor, narrowing his eyes at the drink. "What's this?" He asked Jayde blandly.

Now Jayde began to panic. However she was far too low on energy to panic properly so she simply said, "Memorial shots." The second Joker turned his back Jayde fixed her eyes on him, hoping fervently that he wouldn't take the idea the wrong way, which he was more likely to do if she said anything more. She decided to let the gesture speak for itself, which it did. Joker observed both cups and decided he was partial to the idea and raised the cup to his lips, hissing away the burn. Jayde couldn't help but gape a little but she quickly shut her mouth at Joker's slightest movement. He only stood swaying for a minute before he put the cup down and sighed, pouring himself a second, smaller shot. Enamored, Jayde watched the spread of his shoulders and his steady slouch until finally Joker set down the cup with an air of finality. The TV went ignored from then on. All Jayde was able to do was stare dumbly while Joker ambled to the other side of the bed and sat down, huffing for a moment, then launching himself across and laying his damp head in Jayde's lap. His whole body felt like dead weight and each exhalation felt like deflation. Frankly, Joker was glad for the company. Plus the flat motel pillows slept on like fists wrapped in cardboard.

Now Jayde was completely conflicted. The bourbon had cleared her head but it had made it run a mile a minute and she couldn't decide on action. Heartily confused, she wanted to stroke Joker's chlorophyll green hair – darker when weighed down with water – and show him, if not tell him, that he had her comfort. She felt paralyzed by a crippling fear of heights but driven by an impossibly strong desire to fly. Something had to be done but she was terrified at the thought of choosing an action. This dilemma could be put off for the moment because Joker seemed perfectly content to lay in peace, clutching lightly at Jayde's pants to pull her closer or make himself comfortable. Jayde hoped it was both. She bravely ran fingers through his wet hair, around the shell of his ear.

"I'm kinda glad you came with me." In a thin rasp, Joker said this firmly but almost inaudibly. Jayde refused to let her shock win over her hands.

"I am too." She replied understandingly, but wearily.

Joker continued in the same low voice, "Now if I could just-..." He cut himself off, but made a little half-shrug against Jayde's leg and closed his eyes. She smiled and ran her knuckles along his jawbone. She realized with a pang that she was crying again and made sure that she didn't speak again until her voice was free of pathetic warbling. She wanted to tell him how strong she thought he was, how much she cared about him, how much Tre's death had hurt her too, how she shared his pain and if there was a way to lessen his grief she wanted to find that way.

Minutes and sniffles later she told Joker, "You'll be okay." But Joker was already asleep.

Jayde turned the TV off.

A note: As I'm sure you all noticed, this is indeed a follow-up of Tragedy. But don't worry, you will see more of Tre in flashbacks and memories! I'm really excited to get this going and am already nearly done with the first official chapter. So SIT TIGHT! And leave your love for Psychadelicious (no hate on the winner's piece) if you really want the next chapter! -QoM

Oh and feel free to add me on Facebook- Haven QueenofMean Hunter.


	2. Haunted House

There was something in the rhythm of the speeding Escalade's tires, something about the recurring, vague bounce as it sped along the interstate that was making her feel as though she had not slept in days. Jayde was not sure what it was but it was giving the same affect as she figured rocking a baby would give. Upon reflection, it could have been the fact that after finally falling asleep at around one that morning, she found herself being woken promptly at eight by Joker, telling her they needed to leave. It could have been the fact that since two days prior, her mind had not stopped working, even in her dreams. It seemed her normally active imagination and thoughts had been thrown forcefully into overdrive and she had not allowed herself to stop thinking for nearly seventy-two hours since…well, since that one night.

Beside her, scowling blankly through the windshield sat the Joker, his scarred complexion completely expressionless as he watched the road before them…Jayde had started counting that characteristic scowl as his default facial expression. The tiny amount of affection, if one could call it that, he had shown her the previous night had been exceedingly unsatisfying, seeing how it had been nearly three days since he had given any indication that he was even _thinking _about kissing her. And seeing how Jayde had grown rather attached to being alive, she did not dare mention it or try to sneak one in when he was not expecting it. So she forced herself to remain silent, as was the pattern of late and instead watched through the passenger window as the Escalade followed the dip in the road.

They had passed the sign reading 'Welcome to Illinois' nearly an hour ago and it seemed, _finally, _the wheels of the SUV were slowing and pulling off to the right to exit. However, it was painfully, immediately obvious from the rather podunk appearance of the town they had entered that they were nowhere near Chicago yet. The thought of spending another few hours in absolute silence seemed more daunting than ever, the threat of which magnified by her oppressive sleepiness and admitted crankiness. She knew it was unfair of her to be irritated at Joker's horrible, lasting mood but she at least wished there was something she could say or do to break the tension…But she had a huge feeling that reaching over to undo his jeans could end in either death or a huge argument in which she had no strength to contend. So she took a deep breath, leaning her head back to rest against the leather seat behind her.

Lower-class neighborhoods of one-story homes led them into a small town of random stores and restaurants, feed and tackle shops bustling with local farm-owners, starkly contrasting with the urban environment of the main city of Chicago. It was somewhat funny to Jayde how such a small, simple city could exist just hours from a metropolis of corporate business, crime and gang violence and she was just wishing privately to herself that Joker had chosen somewhere like this for them to stay, when she noticed a wonderfully familiar, circular green sign up ahead on the right. Her heart leapt when she thought of a hot cup of steaming Starbucks coffee, but then sank right back down to somewhere near her stomach when her thoughts then turned to asking Joker to stop. It seemed pointless but she _was_ really tired and she found it more than probable that Joker was thirsty as well, so she gambled her life and took a deep breath. She glanced over at him, hoping her words would not cause the car to suddenly burst into flames.

"Um…" she started, glancing from the scowling Joker to the nearing sign and back, swallowing hard. "Would it be alright if we stopped for coffee? There's a-…" she paused here, trying hard to keep Joker from growing more angry…His default mood was already at a baseline 'irritated'. "There's a Starbucks up here and I can barely keep my eyes-…"

"Fine." Came Joker's answer before she could even finish her sentence, launching that ever increasingly familiar lump into her throat once again. She ignored it for the time being, looking away to the passenger window as Joker pulled the Escalade into the parking lot. The wheels crunched the asphalt as he turned into a spot off to the side, pushing the gear into park. Luckily, Jayde knew of a bit of money she had managed to save from the previous night but refrained from pulling it from her pocket for fear that he might ask why the _fuck _she hadn't given it back to him. Miraculously, however, a smile found her face when her memory took her back to the last and only time Joker had gone into a Starbucks with her. She turned to him as her hand found the handle of the door, grinning placidly at him as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from between the seats.

"Wanna come with me?" she asked rather gently, hoping the allure of arousing some chaos within the store would pique his interest…just like old times…But instead of the excited 'YEAH!' she had been praying for, her heart sank when Joker shook his head, exhaling a thin stream of smoke through the driver's window as a short, dismissive laugh escaped through his nose…as though Jayde had been stupid for even suggesting that he might want to join her. When he did not go on to give a verbal answer, a pang of ache shot through her but she ignored it as she got out of the car. It was amazing how quickly she was growing accustomed to this side of him…

Joker brought the cigarette to his lips as he watched Jayde's retreating figure through the windshield, distracting himself from his whirling thoughts by pausing to wonder what had possibly possessed him to stop. He could have easily ignored her and kept going, could have pretended not to hear her, which was even more likely, being that his ears had not stopped ringing since that house had blown up…This thought forced his hand out, turning on the radio to spin the dial until music came through the speakers. It didn't matter what kind, just as long as it was louder and more prominent than the voice of his mind.

Thinking back, Joker could imagine why Jayde would have offered for him to go with her into the coffee shop, remembering what had happened last time he had set foot in one of those corporate crack houses. It seemed so long ago now, but it was growing more and more obvious to him that Jayde was bound and determined to force him back into his normal, obnoxiously chaotic ways. But if he was going to be himself, he would do it on his own terms…not because Jayde was tired of…whatever it was he was doing. He had not forced her to come with him. In fact, he had gone out of his way to give her an option, and now…he could not help but find himself mildly regretting putting the offer on the proverbial table. His 'fear' was already coming to light; she was already slowing him down.

Seemingly unconsciously, Joker felt himself reach out for the gear-shifter, not even bothering to pull his eyes from the front of the store as he put the Escalade into reverse, moving his foot from the brake to the gas petal. The enormous SUV began to roll backwards as Joker watched the back of Jayde through the lightly tinted, glass store front, the thought of her phone and purse sitting on the seat next to him barely phasing his practically frozen, numb mind. He could do it. He could leave right that second and continue on his way, leaving Jayde in the middle of nowhere with no money besides the twenty-eight dollars he knew she had in her pocket, with no phone and no way of ever finding him again. He could get into Chicago only _slightly _behind schedule, reach his destination, get drunk, pass out, then wake up and start rebuilding with no thought of what he had lost.

The wheels had just reached the end of the parking space when a sudden vision, a flashback of sorts flew into his mind of a conversation he had had a while ago and phantom words, spoken in a very black, very Chicago accent floated into his memory.

"_You're gonna end up doing somethin' you'll regret, I promise you that, Ki…" _

With a groan, Joker pushed the Escalade back into drive, slowly pressing his foot back down on the brake as he inched back into the parking spot, as if giving himself a few seconds to change his mind again…But by the time the SUV had moved back into place, Jayde was stepping out of the front of the store, holding a bag in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. She smiled at him through the windshield as she approached, clearly unaware that he had been moments from abandoning her. A breathy sigh escaped her as she climbed into the car and Joker looked away pointedly as he finished his cigarette, surprised and thoroughly ashamed of himself for feeling slightly guilty about what he had almost done.

"I got you some orange juice…" she put lightly, reaching out to hand him a small, cold bottle of yellowish, orange liquid. He glanced over, but rolled his eyes as he took it from her, setting it down with a thud in the cup holder between them.

"-with _my _ money," he growled, pushing the car back into reverse. "How thoughtful of me…"

Jayde wanted to turn and snap at him, incredibly tempted to tell him to shut the _fuck _up but this was obviously his way of grieving, this was clearly the sort of vibe he felt he needed to put out, so she swallowed it down with the refreshing bit of coffee she had just taken from her cup.

An hour later, with the Escalade once again bouncing along the highway, Jayde was almost finished with her coffee and was feeling immensely more at ease, with special help from the faint, but still playing music Joker had turned on at some point. She was not necessarily listening, but the noise, no matter how quiet, was helping to ease the tension and somewhat awkward silence in the car. It was giving her something else to focus her mind on besides how she was going to survive the next few weeks with a permanently grouchy Joker. Her phone had only done so much to distract her and after going through the old calls and very scarce text messages and after finding no interest in the phone's _one _game, she put it away, moving on to then wonder how Joker would react if she were to light a cigarette and roll down the window.

His eyebrows had seemingly formed a permanent wrinkle between them from his scowl and for a moment or two, she considered telling him jokingly that if he stayed like that much longer, his face would be stuck that way forever. But seeing how he most definitely was not in the mood for conversation and would probably not find it funny, she rolled her eyes to herself, leaning down to reach into her purse for that pack of cigarettes she had bought the previous night. She could practically feel Joker watching her but as she sat up with a cigarette in one hand, the lighter in the other, her ears picked up the sound of a rap song she recognized beginning to play on the radio. The hook in the intro was familiar to her although she wasn't sure who the artist was. The words began a few seconds later.

"_Now I don't really care what you call me,_

_just as long as you don't call me bro. _

_I bet they knew as soon as they saw me. _

_Goodnight, it's over with that's all she wrote._

_Streets like cold Chicago,_

_Ain't nothin' new I seen it all before,_

_But still I ball like no tomorrow,_

_Goodnight, it's over with that's all sh-"_

Joker reached out and turned off the radio with such quickness and force that Jayde jumped slightly, forcing herself not to look over at him confusedly. The silence had returned with such abruptness that Jayde immediately felt that anxiety return to fester inside of her so without pausing to ask or even think about how he would react, she rolled the window down after lighting her cigarette. The affect was instantaneous, the cancerous smoke working effectively to calm her newborn nerves, although she was finding it hard to ignore the way Joker had just snapped to and turned off the radio. There was a thousand and one different reasons to why he could have done that, but even just in her mind, Jayde realized it really was none of her business so she pushed the thoughts away and chalked it up to him not liking the song.

Several silent hours and a few cigarettes later, Jayde was beginning to recognize her surroundings and the Escalade had just come over a slight hill in the highway, when down below, in front of them sat a monstrous city. Her heart could not stop itself from giving a small leap of excitement when she imagined them stopping and _finally _being able to stand up, stretch and unpack her things, depending on whether their destination revealed itself to be a hotel or an apartment of some sort. Joker had not yet specified where it was they would staying, but either way, Jayde figured that once they were there, it might be easier to coerce him into some sort of conversation when he didn't have 'I'm driving' as an excuse for the lack of dialogue. But seeing how she really didn't want to get her hopes up, only to be let down _again, _she glanced over at him, watching for a few moments as he gnawed on his bottom lip. His knee was bouncing as the anxiety of reaching Chicago began to work itself up in him, but Jayde ignored this and took a deep breath.

"So where are we staying?" she asked in a bright tone, hoping to disguise the constantly growing state of despair she was trying to overcome; if _both _of them were openly miserable then life was bound to be…miserable. She had to keep a good face on. Beside her, Joker cleared his throat, forcing himself to glance through his own window and not over at Jayde before he looked back to the road.

"A house." he answered, his voice flat. Jayde watched the side of his face as her eyes started to squint. It was so very like him to be vague, but she could not decide whether he was starting to act like himself again already or if he was merely being curt for irritation's sake.

"Well…Where is it?" she went on to ask, bending her knee to rest her ankle beneath her other thigh, smiling as forcefully up at him as she could possibly manage. But almost as soon as the words had left her mouth, her stomach clenched up when she noticed the muscle against Joker's jaw twitch when he gritted his teeth inside his cheek. He reached over, patting her knee with much more force than necessary as a highly fake, forced grin met his scarred face.

"I guess you're about to find out, arentcha?" he replied with another question, squeezing hard on her knee until Jayde whimpered and he pulled his hand away to the steering wheel. His tired eyes blinked slowly as he looked back to the road, forcefully ignoring the pitiful, pathetic sniffle he was already growing tired of hearing from her when she teared up. He couldn't imagine how squeezing her knee had hurt _that _ bad, but then again, she _was _a girl and was being more sensitive than usual lately…perhaps it was nearly that time of the month…_Fantastic…_

By the time the Escalade had pulled down Lincoln avenue, Jayde had finally stopped her attempt at getting his attention by crying quietly to herself and was now wiping her moist cheeks on the back of her hand, glancing through the windows. It was obvious she was beginning to understand where they were headed but Joker ignored this until they finally pulled into the driveway of a very familiar, now haunted house on the corner of Lincoln and Platt. The ugly, yellowish paint was peeling as avidly as it always had along the side, the yard as brown as ever but Joker was already doing his best to ignore everything, _everything _at the moment…at least until Jayde looked over at him, mouthing wordlessly in shock at his decision. He paused as he turned off the car, his eyes trained on a stray piece of frayed denim on the knee of his jeans.

"Um…" she began. This was her usual intro into anything she said to him lately, as if the sound of her voice would launch him into some blind rage…He couldn't say he blamed her... "Are-…are you sure you want to stay-…" His lips parted as he turned to look at her, once again ignoring the way his stomach clenched uncomfortably when he noticed the watery, red appearance to her normally bright blue eyes.

_Jinx…_

"Ya know, Jayde?" he started, squinting slightly. "It's really unattractive when you ask stupid questions." And with that, he turned to get out of the car, leaving Jayde to stare after him, open-mouthed, completely amazed at how she found herself thoroughly unable to answer him. But out of fear for him having an outburst, she got out and went to the back where he was already in the process of removing the heavier of the boxes. She grabbed several bags, slinging them over her shoulders to follow him up to the front door of Tre's old house, waiting silently, patiently for him to unlock it so she could follow him inside.

The air was thick inside the house, as the air conditioning had not been run in months and she could not help but immediately notice a somewhat musty smell in the living room as she walked in after Joker. However, this was among the least of her worries when she paused just on the inside of the door, her eyes falling across the house to where Tre's old bedroom door stood open, leading her gaze into the nearly empty room. Part of her wanted to run over and slam it shut, close off that room entirely, put it out of Joker's thoughts, but apparently, he had been thinking something along the same lines.

The box he was carrying met the dusty, ugly carpet with a thud as he dropped it there, stalking over, past the kitchen to the door, where he reached out, pulling it shut quickly. Jayde dared not watch as he walked back, but could not stop herself from noticing the way he had turned his head at the last moment, not allowing himself to look into the room as he had slammed the door shut. As he returned, Jayde exhaled quietly, slowly through her nose as he stepped past her and to the door, flinching slightly out of instinct when the very edge of his arm brushed her shoulder. He paused, turning back to her as he held the screen door open and for a split-second of fantastic hope, Jayde thought he was about to apologize for his attitude and harsh words all morning, but instead he nodded toward the hallway that led to his old bedroom.

"Put your stuff in there and start unpacking," he instructed shortly, not even bothering to waste more time to meet her eyes before he walked away, letting the screen slap lamely against the frame of the door behind him. Jayde watched him go, feeling more of those awful, hot tears begin to swell up along the edges of her eyes, but she blinked several times, forcing them back. At least for the next few hours, she could distract herself with unpacking and besides…Joker could not avoid her forever in such a small house.

Joker's old bedroom was exactly as they had left it months ago, before their return to Gotham and his unfortunate run-in with the police, before Jayde had been forced back to work at Starbucks and before…everything that had happened after that. The dirty, white curtains hung motionless against the musty windows, allowing only a small amount of translucent light in through the glass, illuminating the ugly bedspread that Jayde was positive was absolutely covered in dust. She made mental note of it to shake it outside before she even thought about laying down. Fortunately, she had brought her own pillows from the house back in Gotham and was fully planning on putting those to good use later on that night.

The sound of the front door closing acted as a trigger, pulling her from her inspection of her 'new bedroom' and she was just wondering how things were going to work out, now that they were _actually _going to be sharing a room when Joker stepped up beside her, tossing a few bags onto the bed. She tried not to be too obvious with her cringe as a small cloud of dust rose up in a vague plume around the black duffle bags. But since Joker was in such a fine mood, she ignored him and reached out, pulling the closest one to her, to unzip it and begin pulling some of her clothes and undergarments from within. Her hands were almost moving of their own accord as she listened to Joker struggle with what he was trying to say, as it was obvious he was simply standing there watching her, thinking. It was incredibly hard not to turn and look up at him. Finally, he exhaled heavily as though he had been holding his breath and Jayde stood from leaned over, turning to face him as he pretended to take in the state of his old room.

"I'm goin' out for a while," he stated blandly. Jayde felt her heart sink. "Don't wait up."

And with that, as simply as the words had obviously been for him to say, he left the room, followed shortly by the sound of the front door opening and closing once more and again, Jayde fought hard not to sink into more tears. Honestly, she couldn't even believe she still _had _tears to cry anymore at this point…

The first two bags were easy enough to unpack, as they contained most of her clothes, although at first, she had been hesitant on putting them away, unsure of where Joker would like her to keep them. There were two nearly identical dressers across from each other, one against the wall next to the door, the other against the wall across from the foot of the bed and seeing how there was no closet, Jayde gambled that the one with the TV atop it, across from the bed would be hers. The drawers were wonderfully deep and long, giving her plenty of space to stow her clothes, and before long, she found herself with every single article of clothing she owned put away…with three more drawers to spare. She wondered if at any point in his life, Joker had owned enough clothing to actually fill all the drawers in both dressers…or if _other _belongings had taken the empty spaces. This train of thought brought her to another…Where had he gone?

She knew it was none of her business, but it seemed almost unfair in a way that he had left her there, in a 'new' house, all by herself. There was no food in the fridge, more than likely no water yet and the coffee she had drank earlier was making her incredibly thirsty. It just seemed fitting that Joker would leave her to figure this out on her own, and as she wondered when he would be returning, her increasingly paranoid mind forced her to then wonder…_if _he was coming back. However, it seemed unlikely that he would just leave her there, with all of his belongings so instead of wasting more time worrying and sulking, she grabbed one of the other bags and unzipped it. After debating with herself, upon opening the bag to find his clothes, on whether or not she wanted to oblige him with a favor by putting his things away, she rolled her eyes at her constant need to make him happy and pulled a pair of his jeans from the bag.

It seemed from the way every item she took out was wrinkled and bunched up, that Joker had simply shoved all of his clothes into these bags and forced them in until he could zip them. Jayde could not blame him for this; things had not exactly gone according to plan for their 'moving day'…It was obvious he had just been trying to get as far away from that house as fast as humanly possible. Being that all three of his bags had been packed this same way, Jayde decided it might just be easiest to pull everything out all together and refold it all at the same time, versus folding and putting away each individual item. So after doing this for nearly twenty minutes, she was about to start putting things away when her hands faltered on a painfully familiar piece of fabric, stuffed into the very corner of the last bag. Tears immediately sprang to her eyes, before she even pulled it from the bag.

Jayde turned and dropped down onto the bed, completely forgoing her idea to not touch it until she had time to dust it off and her head lowered as her tears spilled down her cheeks, dropping onto the thin, cotton, gray, hoodie sweatshirt in her lap. The warm, salty liquid formed dark spots on the material as she brought it to her cheek, feeling as though this reaction would have been more appropriate if _Joker _had been the one to die that night at the Gordon's house, and not Tre. But then again, as she thought about it, Jayde began to realize that, in a way, Joker _had _ died that night…at least, a part of him that could never be retrieved had been blown apart with his best friend, burned to ashes in the ensuing fire.

She could remember so clearly how comforting it had been to wear this sweatshirt when Joker had been in prison, when she felt she would never see him again and now, just holding it was giving her the same sort of comfort. It seemed now, and for the past few days, Jayde was feeling some of that same emotion, that same hopelessness she had felt when he was so far out of her reach. She now felt even further from him than she ever had before…even when he was sitting right next to her.

But this was foolishness, she told herself. Joker was simply grieving, in his own way and she would be an idiot to think he could just bounce back from the loss he had experienced. She imagined losing Audrey and just the thought made her feel sick…and she had not known her for a fraction of the time Tre and Joker had been best friends. She _truly _could not imagine what he was going through. Again, she forced herself to remember what Dotcom had said about her being the only one who could give him love and sniffled heavily, blinking hard to try and suck her tears back in but with a slight jump, she remembered her phone in her back pocket. It emerged from the confines of the denim a moment later in Jayde's fingers and she hurriedly scrolled through to find the appropriate number, clearing her throat as she pushed the green button and held the phone between the side of her head and shoulder. If there was anyone who could give her encouragement, it was Dotcom. After two rings, an excited, gay voice broke through the other end and Jayde's heart leapt.

"HI, HONEY!" Dotcom squealed in her ear, mounting a giant smile to Jayde's face as she sniffed again, already feeling loads better at the sound of his voice. "How are you? Did you make it to Chicago? Are you unpacked? How was the drive?" As was his usual manner, Dotcom launched all of these questions simultaneously without pausing to leave her time for an answer or even to breathe and Jayde laughed as she stood back up, leaving Joker's sweatshirt where it lay so she could continue putting things away.

"I'm alright, and yes, we made it." She answered, but when Dotcom remained silent, she giggled again, figuring he was waiting for her to go on and finish answering him. "And I'm just unpacking now and the drive was…quiet." She finally forced herself to admit. From the silence on the other end, followed by the slow exhale Dotcom let out through his nose, Jayde could just picture him pushing his glasses up to the front of his hair and rubbing his eyes deeply. She was quick to go on. "But I'm sure he was just feeling…you know…tired or whatever…" she lied, not to Dotcom, but to herself. He obviously wasn't fooled.

"So he's still…not talking, then…" he asked somewhat gravely as Jayde stood up from leaned down, tucking a pair of Joker's favorite cotton pajama pants into a low drawer. Before she could stop herself, her nose wrinkled and her eyes began to burn, just moments before both of her elbows met the top of the tall dresser.

"I just don't know what to do," she whimpered, her fingers from one hand raking into the front of her hair while the others held the phone to her ear. "He's just…being so _mean _and I just-…I just don't know what to do." From the other end of the phone, Jayde heard Dotcom sigh quietly.

"Oh, Jayde, honey…" he started bracingly. "I know its tough right now, sweetie, but it's gonna take time for him to…ya know, come around. I mean it's only been two days…" At this, he paused, clearly hoping Jayde was not about to get mad or offended, although she was currently the furthest thing from it…This was the most anyone had said to her in two days. "And he's being mean because that's his defense mechanism. He's never had to…_deal _with something like this so he doesn't know how else to be but mean and angry." He explained, hesitating again before he tsk-ed lightly. "You just have to be patient and help him without…helping him…does that make sense? Please tell me that makes sense…" With a slight hiccup Jayde laughed quietly, pushing her frizzy hair away from her face.

"Yeah, it does.." she answered, standing up from leaned over. "Thanks, Dotcom, I really don't know what I'd do without you."

With the heavier talking points out of the way, Jayde and Dotcom stayed on the phone for nearly an hour, chit chatting about this and that, about his latest love interest, about his friend he would be staying with New York and his new job as a sous chef, until he announced that he had to go. With promises to speak again the next day if time permitted, they hung up, leaving Jayde to set the phone down and sigh as her stomach gave an almighty growl. Putting away Joker's clothes and shoes had distracted her temporarily from her ever growing dehydration, and now, with nothing left to fill the void, she smacked her lips a few times, cringing at the rather foul, residual coffee taste in her mouth. She was almost positive the water from the tap would run brown at first with rust from the pipes and the thought of that was about as alluring as drinking a pint of gasoline. But with a start, she remembered that bag she had left Starbucks with and the bottle of water she had bought there.

Out in the living room, by the door, Jayde found the brown paper, handled bag that she could not remember bringing in but did not waste time to wonder if Joker had somehow found it in him to bring it in for her. She reached down into the bag and withdrew the tall, room temperature bottle before uncapping it and taking a long, refreshing drought from it, sighing as she brought it down from her lips. Turning to the room, her mind was reeling with oncoming curiosity, the tremors of which could be practically calculated like the warnings of an earthquake. Her eyes scanned the living room and distant kitchen, deciding to act on her nature and walk through the house, hating the silence, but relieved that finally, she was the only one there to experience it.

The kitchen table was exactly as she could remember it, the carvings and notches in the wood feeling rough and splintery against her fingers as she ran them along the heartbeat line someone had carved around the entire circular edge of it. She smiled when she reminisced upon the first night she had sat there and could clearly remember thinking how neat she found that. Her eyes traveled along the table until she found the two names 'Tre' and 'Ki', linked together by what appeared to be the symbol for infinity. She stared at this, willing herself not to start crying again. There was just no point. Tre was dead and Joker was grieving…This was just the natural process of life and crying was not doing anyone any good.

Moving on from the table, Jayde let herself pass through the kitchen, opening cabinets and drawers to see what sort of cookware and plates Tre had left behind in his move from Chicago to Gotham. She was somewhat surprised to find a good amount of glasses, silverware, plates and bowls, pots and pans that he had left and could not help but smile slightly when she mentally thanked Tre. She allowed herself to imagine the sort of phone conversation Joker and Tre had gone through while he had been packing.

"_No, you wont need any of that, just leave it. Dotcom's a chef, I made sure he's got everything he needs here." _

"_Ya sure, bruh? I make a mean grilled cheese…I can bring my flipper and my lil' grill-…"_

"_God, Tre…"_

Of course, this only proved to bring on more tears so Jayde forced herself away from this area of the house, continuing on her way through until she found herself somehow standing in front of the only closed door in the entire home. Everything in her was screaming to go inside, have a look around, being that she had never been in there before, and she was positive there was bound to be an absolute treasure trove of pictures and even videos from Joker's past. A silly smile met her face when she imagined the sort of pictures she could find, pictures of the Joker before his scars, of _Kieron, _before the world caught him by the tail…but the threat of him returning while she was in there was so great, and even more daunting, the idea that he would absolutely lose his mind if he found her in the one room he had wordlessly forbidden.

But then again…He had only left a little over an hour ago and the Escalade was fairly loud. She could probably hear it before he came in and escape to the kitchen, where he would be less likely to get angry if he found her snooping…So with something that very closely mimicked confidence floating through her mind, Jayde reached out to wrap her fingers around the knob and turn it slowly, jumping slightly when the door gave a sudden squeak on it's hinges. The inside of the room seemed perfectly normal, albeit dusty as she stepped inside but something about the thought of Tre being dead or Joker suddenly bursting in through the front door or some ghost suddenly appearing above the bed threw a sudden sick, overwhelming feeling of panic into Jayde's chest. And with her heart racing, she tore from the room, slamming the door shut behind her as she practically ran across the house back to Joker's bedroom where she tripped hard over one bag she had failed to notice on the floor near the door.

She gasped as she caught herself on the bed, bringing her hand up to clutch the silver chain around her neck, turning to look down at the bag, only to blink when she noticed it was actually _two _bags. They were both stuffed to absolute capacity, looking large and thick enough to suffice as adequate speed bumps and with that lurking curiosity still ambling around inside of her, Jayde knelt down, reaching out for the one closest to her.

The zipper was done so taught, she had to practically sit on top of the thing to get it open, but as it finally made it's way along the bag, Jayde reached inside and pulled hard on the first thing she felt. With much tugging, the material she felt revealed itself to be a soft piece of purple fabric, which kept coming and coming until she stood up and pulled it completely from the bag…Joker's purple sheets and black comforter from the house in Gotham. Jayde groaned loudly at herself as she felt more tears threaten to overtake her, but this time she fought them back angrily. There was _nothing _emotional about finding Joker's sheets and blankets…The very same sheets on which she had lost her virginity…No, nothing even remotely emotional about such great memories from a silly piece of material…

After making the bed and climbing up onto it to arrange both her and Joker's pillows, Jayde plopped herself down onto the middle of it, immediately reaching out for the topmost pillow of Joker's bringing to her face to take a deep breath of his familiar, sexy scent. However, this of course, only worked to remind her that he was still gone, the time was nearly five in the evening and she had still not seen or heard from him since earlier that afternoon. For a split second, Jayde thought of using her phone to call him, but the idea of him looking down at the caller ID, seeing it was her and abruptly turning it off was enough to start those damn tears again so she moved on to something else…like wondering what she was going to eat for dinner…or even _lunch_ for that matter…and what had happened to breakfast?

Without even looking, Jayde knew that there was no food in the house and was not even about to waste her time searching. But with the ever-growing paranoia that Joker had indeed abandoned her there, she was not all that hungry anyways…

Determinedly, Jayde rose from the bed, taking her phone out of her pocket, to dial the number to Joker's from memory, deciding that she really _was _going to call him and find out when or _if _he was coming back. She had a right to know whether or not she would need to start scrounging change for something to eat that night…But as her finger dialed the last '5', her thumb pressed down quickly on the red button, erasing the number from the screen before she tossed it onto the bed to wipe her hands on the back of her jeans. _No, not yet…_she thought calmingly to herself. He hadn't been gone _that _long and back in Gotham, she could remember Dotcom saying how he knew Joker to leave for hours and hours without a word, sometimes even days. And although the latter option sounded like borderline torture, Jayde figured she would give him at least another hour before she called. So after locating a towel, her shampoo, body wash and loufa sponge, she walked down into that bathroom, deciding to wait until she emerged and finished doing her hair…Then, if he hadn't called by that time, she would force herself to dial that number again and press the green button.

The shower did absolute wonders to help with that icky, gross feeling one acquires while traveling, but the entire time she was in there, Jayde could only continue to wonder where Joker had gone and whether he was coming back any time soon. She had left the door open to the bathroom in hopes of hearing that screen door opening or closing, but the further she got into her bathing, the deeper her heart sank until it was time for her to get out. Her phone had not rang, and she knew this from having listened intently for that as well, not that she had expected him to call…

A rather luscious amount of steam had filled the bathroom and as Jayde stepped onto the slick tile, wrapping a towel around herself, her hand raised to the small mirror above the sink, wiping away a bit of the condensation there to reveal her weary, yet clean face, staring back at her. So clearly she could remember the night Joker had told her the story of his scars and how they came to be and as she stood there, facing her own half-scarred complexion, she wondered if that was all he could think of in that room as well. Her imagination played her a vision of Tre wrestling a knife away from his best friend, doing everything in his power to keep him from doing more harm to his face, and she could clearly hear in her mind Joker screaming at him to go away, to leave him alone, to let him mutilate himself. And yet, Tre had not, he had apparently gone on until he got the knife away and could help the bleeding and screaming Kieron up off the floor. All of these thoughts shot goosebumps down her arms and legs so she left the bathroom with a shudder, hoping she would not be forced to think of this every time she needed to shower…

In the bedroom, after putting on some comfortable clothes and plaiting her hair into a long braid down her back, Jayde found herself staring down at her previously discarded phone, laying screen down on the bed before her. She had promised herself she would call him when she reemerged from the shower, but now that the task literally lay before her, she could not force her hand out to do the deed. It was just so likely that he would ignore the call or would not even have it on him or would-

The sound of the front door being unlocked launched Jayde's heart up into her throat as she dashed from the bedroom and out into the living room where she quickly imagined Joker rushing in and dipping her low to kiss her like he had done just weeks prior. This however, turned out to just be more wishful thinking as he instead entered the house, scowling, carrying numerous white plastic bags at his sides. Jayde's jaw went slightly slack as she watched him pass through the living room and to the kitchen table where he lifted the bags onto it to set them down. He glanced over as she drifted toward him carefully, clearing his throat as he nodded down at the bags.

"Start putting this stuff away," he instructed, walking past her as though she were a particularly lifelike statue on his way back to the door. "There's more."

Walking over to the table, Jayde pulled open one of the bags, only for her heart to leap when she noticed a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and several other food items and her eyebrows formed a crease between them as she frowned, looking over toward the open door…Had the Joker _actually _gone grocery shopping? A moment later, he reappeared in the doorway, holding several more bags, causing Jayde to jump and scramble to start putting things away, grabbing a bag to take it to the cabinets. Turning around again, Jayde paused as she watched him sit down at the table, flipping on a light above it to open a smaller, brown paper bag and upend it, dumping out a heaping amount of weed and three small cigarillo cigars. She blinked, forcing herself out of this as she walked back over, ignoring him as she opened another of the plastic bags, only to reveal a pre-ground bag of coffee, a box of filters another paper bag of sugar. Her heart skipped a beat; Joker did not drink coffee.

He must have noticed her hesitation and glanced up, but the moment he did this, she turned away from the table, walking over to put them away without a word. However, she returned a few seconds later, retrieving the next bag to do the same. This pattern went on for nearly ten minutes as Joker rolled his blunt, honestly excited to get outside and get lifted, start forcing himself to forget. But just as he finished the first one and decided to roll a second, just in case the one did not do it's job, he had to force himself not to look up immediately when Jayde shuffled over quietly in her over-long pajama pants. Her small, gentle hand rested on his shoulder as she leaned down and lightly placed a kiss on his cheek, right against the more symmetrical and curved of his two scars. He tried not to flinch and instead looked up slowly from his fingers to her face, once again finding it incredibly hard to make eye contact. However, she was smiling down at him understandingly.

"Thanks for getting me some coffee, Joker," she told him lightly, tightening her grip on his shoulder ever so slightly. He nodded once, putting his lips back together from where they had parted in slight surprise at her miniscule display of affection, but then looked back down at his fingers when she leaned down once more, placing yet another kiss on his cheek. "And thank you for not leaving me at Starbucks…" she then murmured against his temple, pursing her lips to leave one last gentle peck there before she stood up and walked away, smiling to herself. A heavy sigh escaped Joker as his knee started to bounce and his hand ran through the messy, tangled front of his hair. _You're welcome…_

With Jayde watching TV in his room, and the groceries put away, Joker stepped out onto the front porch after turning off the lights in the house but paused on the outer threshold of the door, his eyes falling down to the chair next to him. It's emptiness was overwhelming in the way it made his chest feel and the sudden tightness that spread across it. For a second, he considered going back inside and smoking in there, but then again, he and Tre had set down rules way back in the day and among those, was the 'no smoking in the house' rule…Just because one of them was…

Joker groaned as he plopped down into the seat closest to the door, too exhausted at that point to even consider sitting in his usual seat when he knew all he would do was sit and stare at the place his best friend usually sat. If he was being completely honest, the loneliness of sitting out there getting high by himself was enough…the thought of staring at an empty chair seemed like overkill.

He moved to light the blunt, igniting the lighter to rotate the end of the cigar within the flame, burning all the edges evenly before he brought it to his lips and inhaled deeply. At first, he coughed from the sudden smoke in his lungs but as it continued even after he had exhaled, he realized gradually that he was simply trying hard not to leave his brain time to admit his eyes were burning. But a moment later, he sniffed hard, shaking his head as he cleared his throat, choking those almost-tears back into nothingness, into nonexistence so he could actually enjoy his high and not sit there and sniffle like a some pathetic child… He had already done his five minutes of crying over Tre; there would be no more of _that. _

The paper and weed within the blunt burned in unison as Joker practically swallowed the smoke down, taking deep hit after deep hit until his entire body tingled and his eyes felt heavy, fuzzy and warm. The streetlights were already on and the sun had gone down, leaving the familiar street before him doused in shadows and lines. A few people moved along the sidewalk about a block down and as much as Joker would have liked to gotten up, stalked down the street behind them and do a little hunting, he could not even manage the thought of standing up at that point and probably could not have walked very far if he had tried. He had not slept well, if at all the previous night and could not say he was surprised to be feeling this exhausted. The weed was most definitely not helping this overpowering feeling of drowsiness so he reached out to the right to put the blunt out in the ashtray, but paused, blinking slowly when he noticed he had reached in the wrong direction and was now holding the cigar out in the air beside him, clearly unaccustomed to sitting on this side of the table…This was usually where Tre sat.

With another half-groan, half-cough, Joker transferred the blunt to his other hand and reached to the left, mushing the cherry down into the glass ashtray before he stood up and abruptly left the porch, suddenly feeling as though he did _not _want to be there anymore.

Inside the house, Joker felt his stomach growl angrily at him, having not eaten anything for nearly two full days but he once again ignored it and continued on his way to his bedroom after locking the door. The blue glow from the TV illuminated the room and the bed within it, throwing vague light onto the folded black comforter at the foot of it and the dark purple sheets beneath which Jayde was already laying, curled up on her side as she slept. She was facing the empty half of the bed, clearly having been waiting for him to join her and Joker rolled his eyes as he stepped out of his jeans and shrugged out of his shirt as quietly as possible, hoping desperately to keep her asleep. She would be expecting him to kiss her or say goodnight or something equally as obnoxious and he was honestly feeling just a _bit _too high for that…or something equally as disabling.

But as he lay down just next to her, sighing quietly through his nose, he turned onto his side as gently as possible, folding his arms across his bare chest before he closed his eyes. He hoped beyond his wildest dreams sleep would find him quickly this time, instead of hovering just out of reach like it had the previous two nights and as his brain instantly began to float in and out of consciousness, Joker took a deep breath in, only to exhale heavily a second later when a small hand came to rest gently against his back. A set of lips followed suit, pursing to leave a kiss just beside her fingers. Joker's eyes slid open.

"Good night," she whispered from behind him.

He did not agree with her, so he did not answer.

A/N: Just a warning. This story is going to be fairly heavy compared to the two before it, but it WILL get better. As we all know, it has to get worse before it can get better. I appreciate reviews to the highest degree, and I ask, if you will be following this story, that you take a few seconds of your time to give me your thoughts. So leave me your love/hate if you want the next chapter in a timely manner. -QoM


	3. Crappy Anniversary

The bottoms of Jayde's thin, cotton pajama pants dragged along around her feet when she shuffled groggily to the kitchen the next morning, but as she reached the corner where the ugly carpet met the even uglier linoleum, she paused. A heavy sigh moved her chest when she found it empty and exactly as she had left it the night before. She had not been expecting Joker to be laying next to her when she woke, but she had at least been hoping he would have made himself something to eat. Carefully unbeknownst to him, she had been keeping an eye on his habits and noticed that he had not had anything to eat since the night of their attack on Gotham, since before Tre's untimely death. And while it did seem like him to starve himself for no reason besides sheer lack of appetite, it worried Jayde that his health would start spiraling out of control if he did not keep himself fed. And if he wasn't going to do it for himself, then she would have to help him…without helping him. From the silence in the house, it seemed he had once again left, which did not surprise her in the least. Honestly, she had expected to spend the first few weeks on her own a lot of the time so this was really nothing too shocking to her.

The coffee and filters were exactly where she had left them in the cabinet above the coffee maker and seeing how it had not been run in some time, she took a few moments to run some water through the pot, to wash out any dust or debris that had been caught up. But as she turned to place it back on the burner, her heart skipped several beats in succession when she heard a noise on the other side of the garage door on the far side of the kitchen. A tiny grin found her face when she imagined what he could possibly be doing and as she brought a glass down out of the cabinet to rinse it, she wondered what on earth she could make for breakfast that might convince him he wanted to eat.

Bacon and toast were always an easy fix, Jayde began to think as she poured a glass of orange juice, and that way, she could make it seem as though it had always been in the plan to make it. If he wanted to eat some, that was up to him; she would not force him…not that she ever could.

With the cold glass of orange juice in her hand, Jayde took a deep breath before she opened the door into the garage, peering around the edge of it before she stepped out. The heavy, metal door across from her had been raised, revealing an empty driveway, which she could _just _see around the backend of the huge Escalade which Joker had obviously backed in at some point. She cleared her throat as he stepped around the edge of the SUV, looking down at a white tube of some sort in his hands. His eyebrows raised as he looked up and over at her, meeting her eyes for a second or two before his gaze fell to the glass in her hand. It was immediately obvious how awkward things were about to get, until Jayde stepped forward and handed it to him, smiling up at him as he sighed through his nose. Her grin expanded when he took a long sip.

"Morning," she greeted him gently, watching as he stayed in place, but pretended to concentrate on pulling the cap from the end of the white tube, once he had handed the half-drained glass back to her. He nodded, his eyebrows arching as he stepped away to the back, bulletproof window of the Escalade.

"Yes it is," he answered blandly, as though she had been informing him what time of the day it was. Jayde noticed his tone but ignored it, fighting past his attitude in an effort to keep her day from being ruined so early on. Her smile faded only by a fraction before it returned, giving her strength as she walked over to where he stood, now squeezing a bit of clear goo from the end of the tube, onto one of the splintered bullet marks in the thick plastic window.

"What are you doing?" she asked brightly, glancing from his hands up to his scowling face and back down. He sighed as he pulled the tube away, only to reach into his back pocket and pull out a flat piece of metal.

"Writing a letter to the president," he growled sarcastically in response, arching one of his eyebrows as his eyes shifted from focused on what he was doing to the now painfully hurt expression that had molded Jayde's features. Her chin dropped slightly as she turned to walk away, and he rolled his eyes from behind her back. "I'm filling these holes to reinforce the plastic." He went on to explain more lightly, surprised to find himself feeling slightly bad for being so readily irritated when all she had done was be herself and start asking questions. He hoped she understood that he was trying to apologize without saying the words, and he felt slightly relieved when she nodded an understanding and moved to walk away again. This time, he let her go, feeling like his unspoken apology had been enough, but he paused once more when he felt her hesitate on the steps leading up to the garage door.

"I'm uh-…making toast and bacon," she stated, her voice more quiet and light than it had been when she first spoke. A hesitation followed her words before she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, when Joker turned his head to look up at her over his shoulder. "Are you hungry?"

The honest, quickest answer he could give was 'YES, I'M STARVING', but instead of turning fully to shout this at her, he shrugged in a falsely half-hearted manner, turning back around to continue what he was doing. "Yeah, I'll eat somethin'," he eventually admitted, knowing full well Jayde had only asked him this in an effort to convince him to eat. While he did somewhat appreciate her initiative, he could not help but feel slightly annoyed that she was still actively trying to involve herself in his internal goings-on. He obviously was not making it clear enough that he just wanted to be left alone.

It was not long after she had left the garage that the scent of crackling bacon, coffee and toast reached Joker's senses, awakening his stomach and causing it to growl with such force it hurt. He could feel his insides cramping and writhing upon themselves, empty and rattling like old pipes and as much as he would have liked to ignore it and keep going, the feeling of being so hungry was starting to make him feel sick. So with three of the five holes filled and drying, he set the scrap of metal and the tube on the wooden bench to go inside and try to choke down something to eat.

Upon the sound of the garage door opening, Jayde spun to face him, smiling as he stepped inside, although he had to try hard not to look over as he slid the newspaper out from within it's plastic bag. She watched somewhat disappointedly as he unfolded it to sit down at the table, opening to one of the center pages, where he settled on an article that he deemed interesting. The smell of the bacon was absolutely heavenly and as his stomach growled loud and long enough to start an earthquake, he silently appreciated the fact that the sound of the crackling bacon in the pan was loud enough to prevent Jayde from hearing just how hungry he actually was.

This seemed like some middle-American nightmare to Jayde as she stood at the stove buttering toast while Joker sat at the table reading the newspaper. The only thing that could have made it more complete was if she was wearing some flowery, obnoxious apron and Joker were wearing a suit, smoking a pipe. But instead, she was standing there in her pajamas, trying to figure out if Joker would be able to stomach butter on his toast while he sat across the room in silence, in jeans and a t-shirt. She turned to him, cocking her head to the side.

"Can you have…butter? On your toast?…" she asked abruptly, arching her eyebrows in slight anxiety when Joker's eyes slowly raised to meet hers from behind the newspaper. "I-I mean, I know you're…lactose intolerant but…" At this, she stopped herself from going on when Joker actually grunted a single laugh, shaking his head slowly as he went back to scanning the newspaper.

"Normally, yes, but seeing how I haven't eaten in two days…" he answered, but cut himself off with a cough when he cleared his throat. "So, uh…no." Jayde hesitated, confused as she watched him return to reading.

"So you just want it…dry…" she went on to ask but jumped, when Joker suddenly slapped the paper together and brought his arms down on top of it, turning his head to raise his eyebrows at her.

"Unless you'd like to _spit _on it," he snapped in a hugely false, bright tone, his eyes squinted slightly with his head tilted to the side. Jayde's jaw went slightly slack in surprise at his sudden turn in demeanor, and as she turned back to the stove, anger and hurt mingled together in a volatile cocktail in the pit of her stomach, robbing her of any sort of appetite she had. With a clank, she moved the pan from the hot eye to the cool one before she pulled three pieces of bacon from within it, placing them next to a small stack of toast. The plate made a thud against the wood as she placed it on the table near Joker without a word, continuing on her way to the front door without so much as a look over her shoulder. The hair on the back of Joker's neck stood up in bristling anger as he watched her go from over his shoulder and as he turned back to stare down at the breakfast in front of him, his fists clenched tightly into the front of his hair. Just how the _fuck _was he supposed to survive this…

Outside, Jayde sat in the chair closest to the door, her hands folded in her lap as her shoulders shook gently in time with her sniffles. Everything she wanted, her phone, cigarettes and lighter, were all back inside in the bedroom, but with the Joker sitting just beyond the door at the table, brooding fiercely, she really had no other option than to just sit there and cry for a while…At least until she heard the garage door open and close again…

This occurred a bit more quickly than she had expected and only ten minutes later, Jayde vaguely heard the sound of the far door being opened and closed again. She truly wanted to be glad that Joker had not taken his dear sweet time eating, but as she stood up and slipped inside, her heart sank a bit lower when she noticed only two pieces of toast and one strip of bacon missing from his plate at the table. Her eyes rolled instinctively as she walked through the living room to the bedroom, but figured since he hadn't eaten in a few days, he could probably only stomach a few bites at a time. Her cigarettes and lighter were laying on the dresser, right where she had left them the previous night and after grabbing both to leave the room, she disappeared back outside onto the front porch.

For most of the afternoon, Jayde and Joker stayed away from each other, for obvious reasons; namely since breakfast had gone so _swimmingly_ earlier. For a while, Jayde stayed in the bedroom, watching tv and texting Dotcom, feeling slightly better with his help and the encouraging, funny things he was saying. At one point, he had suggested jokingly that she leave, take the Escalade and come stay with him in New York, give Joker time to be alone, but Jayde had politely declined, saying it would be incredibly unfair and rather stupid of her to abandon him at a time like this, especially after he had decided against leaving her at a Starbucks in the middle of nowhere. No, she would have to stay there…but that didn't mean she couldn't try to make things better in the mean time.

Outside in the garage, sat the Joker on the bench of the work table, his hands between his knees as he sat slouched, his shoulders slumped as he idly watched the street at the end of the driveway. Every now and again, his ears would pick up the deep, obnoxious bass of an oncoming car and would listlessly try to guess the make and model of it before it passed. At one point, when an old model Lincoln Towncar had gone by, he had let out a short grunt of a laugh when his memory took him back to the day Tre had come home with one of those 'land-yachts', as he had liked to call it. He had jumped out of the car excitedly, practically shouting at Ki over the rattling subwoofers, asking him 'HOW FUCKIN' SICK IS _THIS_ BITCH?' Kieron had gone out of his way for the next few days to hide the entire car in random places throughout the neighborhood, each time coming up with some ridiculous story about how 'Lincoln bandits' had come to steal his car, but had said they didn't want the speaker system because it was garbage. Joker's broad shoulders rose and fell heavily with his sigh, his eyes drifting to the floor of the garage from the street.

Gradually, through the hazy thoughts whirling slowly through his brain, Joker managed to remember the phone he had slipped into his pocket earlier that morning and leaned forward, pulling it from the denim. He knew the name of the man he needed to call, but could not remember which of the unnamed numbers in his phone belonged to that person in particular. With a slight shrug, he sighed again, figuring he would just have to find out the hard way.

Being that breakfast had gone so horribly earlier that morning, Jayde found herself in no rush whatsoever to try making anything for lunch and was definitely not looking forward to dinner, although she did hope Joker felt like eating more. Her mind was just ambling through the fridge and cabinets from her place on the bed, wondering what there even was for her to make when, in the distance, she heard the sound of the garage door opening and closing. Her stomach did a somersault in dread when she quickly imagined Joker running into the bedroom to wrap his hands around her throat and throttle her to death, on top of the same sheets on which he had taken her virginity. But contrary to what she had been somewhat expecting, the Joker appeared in the doorway a few moments later, his hands tucked down into his pockets, a rather sheepish expression on his face as he leaned against the frame. Jayde sat up, waiting on bated breath for him to speak.

"I uh-…" he started, pausing to take a deep breath as his eyes rolled upward. "I called one of my guys back in Gotham and he's driving your Corvette out here tomorrow." He went on to explain, pulling his hands from within his pockets to step into the room slowly, gradually making his way to the edge of the bed. He sat down as he reached it, watching his fingers as they linked together between his knees. Jayde nodded as she glanced over, but immediately looked back to the tv. She knew it was selfish of her to act this way when he was clearly attempting to smooth over his attitude from earlier, obviously trying to appease her without actually apologizing, but Jayde could not forget the way he had snapped at her when she had been doing something nice for him. She could not just skate over the fact that for the past three days, he had been treating her like a dog when all she wanted to do was help him. It was immensely difficult for her to act this way toward him when she knew he was upset and grieving, but he had to see how his brashness affected her. He had to understand.

As Jayde forced herself not to look at him, she noticed from her periphery the way his broad shoulders moved gently up and down as he sighed, scratching awkwardly at a place along his jaw and her heart broke. But she forced herself to stay in place and ignore him as he stood up and moved away from the bed, over to the drawers against the far wall where he leaned down, reaching into one of the top ones for a pair of boxers and one of his favorite pairs of pajama pants. Without another look back at the bed, he left the room briskly, obviously feeling a rush of irritation, his mood once again changing like the direction of the wind and Jayde jumped, sliding her eyes closed as the bathroom door slammed shut behind him. Just how the _fuck _was she supposed to survive this…

Of course, the moment Jayde heard the water start running in the bathroom, her stomach gave a loud growl of hunger and annoyance at her ignoring it for most of the day. So with Joker now occupied for the time being, she stood up and ventured into the kitchen, glancing through the living room windows as she went. It was surprising how quickly the days went lately, even with sitting around doing nothing and she rolled her eyes as she noticed the sun starting to set. At least she would have an excuse to get in her pajamas and get in the bed soon, versus sitting around and waiting for the time when she could purposefully distance herself from Joker.

Even this early on in their stay at the house, Jayde could already sense a pattern starting. It seemed their days would be spent separated- Joker out in the garage or away from the house, leaving Jayde to lounge around and be bored, cooking and cleaning here and there, like some awful version of a housewife…a housewife that was not allowed any where near her…'husband'…of sorts. Things could truly not be more unfair if they tried.

Granted, Jayde understood that this phase in their relationship was only temporary and as she stepped into the kitchen, she brought her hand to her chest, tightening her finger's grip through her shirt on the silver chain against her chest. She had not removed it since the day they left Gotham and had no plans on doing so anytime soon. It acted as her pendant of hope, a beacon of some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, where eventually she and Joker would emerge, closer and stronger than ever. However, at the moment, the _journey _was turning out to be the factor that would either make or break her.

Honestly, she did feel horrible about almost entirely ignoring Joker's attempt at some form of conversation and made a promise to herself to never do that again and to apologize when he emerged from the shower, no matter how angry he still seemed.

Joker let out a quiet groan as he stepped out of the shower, feeling slightly suffocated from the copious amount of steam that had accumulated in the bathroom over the past fifteen minutes. The tile was warm and slick beneath his feet as he walked over to the sink, begging his mind not to go to the one place he had been hoping to avoid. His hands gripped either side of the white porcelain sink as he leaned on it, hanging his head as his eyes closed in an effort to help stave off the memories this particular room held for him. However, the moment he fell into silence and darkness, loud shouting and screaming echoed through his memory, raising goosebumps all along his admittedly warm back, shoulders and chest. He cringed as phantom pain coursed through his entire face, making his jaw feel stiff and locked into place as though moving it would tear the cuts more.

"_-THE FUCK YOU DOING?" _

"_Look, Tre, I'm not-…I'm not pretty anymore." _

Kieron could very clearly remember saying this to his best friend as blood poured from his cheeks and down his jaw, sliding in thick red rivers down his neck and into the thin collar of his t-shirt. But as Tre lunged toward him, wrapping both of his hands around his right wrist, he had let out a scream the likes of which had never before nor since left his body, as though the pain had suddenly kicked in and grabbed him by the throat. It had been piercing, excruciating and white hot, forcing him to shake violently as he tried everything in his power to not only keep the knife in his hand but to use it to defend himself. Looking back, Joker could remember catching Tre several times on his forearms with the sharp edge of the knife but his brother had ignored his own cuts, over looked them until he had removed the knife from Kieron's hand and stood him up, pulling him out into the living room.

A sharp, sudden chill ran through Joker's body and he shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut more tightly when his mind took him on to when he had collapsed on the floor in the living room, screaming through closed lips as he clutched at his face with both hands. As hard as he might have tried, he could not remember thinking anything at that point, but could only remember two phrases he had kept repeating inside his mind, even through all of his screaming.

'_I'm not pretty anymore, I really am the Joker.'_

An incredibly realistic flashback suddenly flew before Joker's eyes of Tre rushing into the living room and falling to his knees on the floor beside him, holding two clean towels, but he sucked in a short gasp of air and opened his eyes, blinking hard as his gaze met the one of his reflection. With a slight jump, he yanked his hands back from the sink as though it had burned him, surprised to find his knuckles white and the tips of his fingers numb. One of those hands moved up into his wet, mossy green, fading hair, pushing it away from his face as he exhaled heavily and moved to quickly change and exit the bathroom, _more _than ready to get away from this particular area.

Out in the hallway, just beneath the scent of his body wash and deodorant, Joker inhaled deeply when he noticed a warm, wonderful aroma drifting his way from the kitchen. More of those goosebumps rose up along his arms and chest as he guiltily wondered what Jayde could possibly be making that smelled so amazing. But the longer he hesitated, simply standing there inhaling, the more he began to gradually realize that she could have probably been cooking a giant crock pot of road-kill and he still would have found the scent alluring…He was fucking starving again and feeling slightly ravenous. But seeing how he had snapped so harshly at Jayde earlier, he would consider it only fair if she had decided not to include him in her cooking…There was only one way to find out.

At the corner to the kitchen, Joker stopped, taking advantage of the moments when she had no idea he was there, to watch her as she rocked slowly from side to side, in rhythm with her gentle stirring of the pot on the stove. Her hair had been released from her slept on braid and now fell in perfect, black, shiny waves down her back, reaching all the way to the line of her jeans sitting low on her hips. Joker was just admiring how peaceful she seemed and how he envied her slightly, when she must have felt his presence and turned, releasing the spoon to face him completely. Her hands moved slowly to rest on the handle of the oven door behind her and Joker could not help but notice the way her grip tightened slightly when he took a step toward her. He ignored this for the time being and continued advancing until he grew close enough to lean down and slide his arms around her waist. His chin came to rest lightly on her shoulder and he closed his eyes for only a second or two before he opened them and stared down at the red, glowing eye of a burner on the stove behind her.

At first, he had felt her entire body tense up either in surprise or fear, he did not know, but after a moment, and after she had seemingly realized he was not here to strangle her, she relaxed and pushed herself up onto her toes, bringing both of her arms up to wrap tightly around his shoulders. The curve of the profile of her face, from her forehead, down her nose, past her lips and chin pressed against his warm, clean neck, buried slightly into his hair and she sniffled quietly, causing Joker to roll his eyes, already feeling annoyed with this. He could have predicted a unspoken, apologetic hug would reduce her into more tears but he had overlooked this…for reasons that were beyond him. But as she sniffed once more against his neck, he pulled his arms back as Jayde did the same and he cleared his throat as he looked away, trying desperately not to meet her gaze…She would be expecting him to kiss her and…he just did not feel ready for that yet. Why, he had no idea.

But as Jayde rose back onto her toes and rested a kiss against his cheek, Joker sighed, pulling his head away gently, hoping to instruct her without hurtful words to let him move at his own pace. She seemed to understand, thankfully, and cleared her own throat somewhat awkwardly as she wiped her cheeks quickly with her hands before she turned back to the stove.

"I made some of that chicken soup you bought," she explained, motioning to the pot before her as Joker watched from above and behind her shoulder. A stammering pause preceded her next, cautious words. "I-if you want some, I'll get you a bowl…"

Joker nodded his head without hesitation, pausing for only a moment to notice the half-smile appear on Jayde's face before he walked over to the table and sat down, forcefully keeping his eyes fixed on the front page of the newspaper he had discarded earlier…He was not ready to look down at the etchings on the table, and did not think it would be a good idea to try again so soon after they had caused such a sharp reaction earlier that morning. He thought back to the look on Jayde's face when he had snapped at her and wished there was some way he could explain his actions. But openly admitting that seeing he and Tre's names etched into the wood in front of him, along with the hundreds of other markings and memories, had caused him to lose control of his emotions would mean absolute defeat. He had apologized to her just then, in not so many words and would try not to let it happen again…_Try _being the key word.

With his stomach about to claw it's way through the front of his body, Joker felt himself practically drooling when Jayde brought over two bowls of scalding hot, steaming soup and two sizeable pieces of sourdough bread. She set the larger of the two bowls in front of him before setting a spoon down next to it and Joker immediately reached out for it, beyond pretending like he wasn't hungry at this point.

Across from him, Jayde watched discretely for a few moments, smirking to herself happily as Joker began eating and she mentally patted herself on the back. It was baby steps from here and among the first of them was getting him back into a healthy routine of meals…It seemed as though they had stumbled blindly over the first of the many hurdles standing in their way.

The meal passed in total silence, although Jayde was the furthest from complaining she had ever been. It was such an accomplishment in itself that Joker was feeling hungry enough to eat, and not only eat but finish it and not be full to the point of feeling sick. She smiled warmly to herself as she carried their bowls to the sink and began rinsing them, feeling more at peace with the world, with a good hot meal in her stomach and she hoped wildly that Joker was feeling some of that same comfort. But as he stood up from the table and left the kitchen to disappear onto the porch, she sighed, ignoring him, her thoughts now focused on changing out of her clothes and getting into some comfortable, warm pajamas. She was not sure what it was, but something about chicken soup simply screamed cuddle and movie time…However, it was more than likely that Joker would not be of the same mind.

After changing into some pajamas and flipping through all of the channels on the tv in Joker's bedroom, Jayde settled down into the bed, wondering privately to herself how long Joker would put off sleep this night. She knew he was probably tired, but the previous night, it seemed as though he had tried everything in his power to knock himself unconscious. It was still fairly early and as much as she hated the fact that this was starting to happen to her, her body was mildly craving a cigarette. She had always hated smoking, but since being around Dotcom and eventually Tre, who were both regular smokers, she had found herself picking up the habit…And seeing how Joker was still outside and had been in a less abrasive mood as of late, she stood up and made toward the door, hoping to catch him before he came back inside.

The sun had long since gone down, leaving the outside patio dark and shadowed and Jayde smiled as Joker looked up quickly, but only to exhale heavily in a cloud of funky-smelling smoke as his gaze drifted off. If she didn't know better, she might have thought he had been hoping it was someone else coming out onto the patio; her heart broke a little at this. As she sat down in the chair furthest from the door, Joker tapped a bit of ash from the end of his blunt into the tray on the table to the left of him before he glanced over at her.

"You wanna hit this or what…" he grumbled, thinking this was the reason for her coming to join him but when she shook her head, reaching out for the pack of cigarettes, he brought the cigar to his lips, taking a deep hit of his own. Jayde watched him for a moment, noting silently how tired and listless he seemed until she lit her cigarette and inhaled deeply. She wished there was something random she could ask him in an effort to spark up a conversation, but after trying and failing miserably several times to do this recently, she kept her mouth shut; there was just no point.

Across from her, Joker was leaned back in the chair next to the door, his right knee bouncing, despite his seemingly quiet external demeanor. He had tried to stop it several times already with mild success, but only for it to start right up again the moment his mind moved on from concentrating on keeping it still. So after the fourth or fifth time this happened, he gave up and let it go, let himself feel anxious and wound up for no reason. His body felt tired and lethargic, but his mind was running circles around itself, whirling with various ideas and thoughts, many of which he forced as far away from reality as possible. Training himself to keep his thoughts away from that one night and how _stupid _ he had been for letting Tre run across the street was taking a bit longer than he had anticipated and required more effort than he had originally estimated.

As proof of how lost in his thoughts he was falling, Joker barely noticed the blunt burning him until a refreshing shock of pain shot into his fingers. He jumped slightly as he blinked, flinging the end of the roach into the dead grass in the yard before he stood and abruptly left the patio, figuring Jayde would simply assume his actions had been due to some particularly foul thought.

She watched him go, begging her eyes not to start burning for what seemed like the one-thousandth time in the past three days and instead took a deep breath as she finished her cigarette. Inside, muffled through the front wall of the house behind her, Jayde vaguely heard the garage door swing open and shut so she stood up and followed Joker's footsteps through the door, closing it behind her to lock both deadbolts. With Joker now out in the garage, once again shutting himself away as he undoubtedly worked on the bullet holes in the Escalade, Jayde figured she would just save herself the loneliness and try to get to sleep early…She didn't think she could handle another night of trying to fall asleep while she stared at Joker's back.

The fan in the bedroom was on full blast, although she could not remember turning it on that high and she shivered as she stepped in. The weather in Chicago, come to find out, changed rather rapidly from the heat of summer to the chilliness of August and Jayde was just trying to remember when exactly it changed back in Gotham, when with a jolt, she realized the date: August the tenth. Earlier that morning, upon looking at her phone, she had lay there for several minutes in bed, trying to remember what she was finding so significant about that date in particular, but for the life of her, she could not think clearly enough. It had not been anyone's birthday that she knew of, had not been the date of her parent's death and yet that date still stood out in her memory as significant. As she grabbed Joker's thin, gray sweatshirt and hugged it to her chest, she remembered in a stab of mingled pain and numb happiness: exactly a year ago, to the date, Joker had stormed into that Starbucks on fifty-fourth and took her for himself…changed her life completely.

It seemed only fitting that exactly three hundred and sixty-five days ago, Joker had wanted her so badly, he went out of his way to have her. Now, he seemed to be doing everything in his power to stay as far away from her as possible. _Happy anniversary, Mister Joker…_

A/N: This is a somewhat short chapter, I know, and rather uneventful, I admit it. Sometimes these chapters are necessary. But I _can_ assure you, the next one will not be anything as dull as it's predecessor…Leave me a review if you would like to read it sooner, rather than later! -QoM


	4. Vicious Traditions

There was no telling what time it was when Jayde felt movement on the mattress behind her. From the deep dream she had been having, she could figure hazily that she had already been asleep for several hours and she whimpered quietly as she turned onto her back, blinking heavily. The room was pitch black around her, the inky sky beyond the dirty drapes still dotted with vague stars and the weight on the bed next to her plainly told that Joker had seemed to finally give in and was now taking a deep breath in through his nose as he lay on his back. One of his hands had come to rest on his chest, the other tucked up under the pillow beneath his head, exposing the side of his body closest to her. The purple sheet covered the lower half of him, resting lightly across his hips and it rose and fell as he sighed heavily.

Without thinking, Jayde turned onto her side facing him, closing her fingers around a bunch of the sheets beneath her to help pull herself closer to him. Her scarred cheek came to rest on the inside of his strong upper arm, just next to his shoulder before her hand moved gently onto his chest. But almost as soon as she had settled against him and let her heart positively soar at the thought of being so close to him, Joker groaned, his eyebrows furrowing in sleepy annoyance as he shifted next to her.

"God, Jayde, c'mon…" he growled, pushing her away as he turned his head. Even in her state of half-consciousness, Jayde felt that increasingly familiar stab of hurt pierce her like a thorn and she watched dejectedly as he brought his arm down from under the pillow to his chest. It was incredibly tempting to stand up and take her pillows, leave the room to go sleep on the couch, but the chances were, Joker would not even care nor realize why she had done that. He would probably even be the slightest bit happy to have the bed all to himself. So since she was already warm and it would not make any difference, she remained in place, but turned back onto her other side, facing the windows. At least she still had his sweatshirt to hold.

Jayde stepped out onto the front porch several hours later, now dressed in jeans and a thin, long-sleeved shirt, pulling her pack of cigarettes from her back pocket as she sat down. As she had noticed the previous night, the weather was indeed beginning to change and as she attempted to light her cigarette, a cool breeze blew past her, extinguishing the flame. Her second attempt was more successful and as she inhaled deeply, her eyes moved out past the yard to Platt street, wondering with vague interest what she would find if she were to start walking.

It had come as no surprise to wake to an empty bed but upon listening carefully on the inside of the garage door, Jayde had felt a mix of relief and annoyance at the sound of movement on the other side. There was no telling what else Joker had found to work on out there, but she figured once the bullet holes were filled in the Escalade, it would become more and more difficult for him to find things to fix. Seeing how she had the only pack of cigarettes and they had been in the bedroom all morning, Jayde stood up and walked around the edge of the house to the garage, thinking it might be best to just approach him now and get it over with.

But as she rounded the corner, the sound of heavy, metal music reached her ears and she couldn't help but frown slightly as she stepped into the garage. Just as she expected, Joker was standing at the back end of the Escalade, a flickering blue light and sparks coming from where she assumed his hands were. His eyebrows were furrowed, his nose wrinkled as he concentrated on welding the bullet holes back together in the metal, the clicking sound of the torch barely audible beneath the loud music. He didn't seem to notice her at first so Jayde took a deep breath as she approached.

"Hey," she greeted him, her voice raised slightly to be heard over the music. Joker's eyes moved before he did and he glanced up at her from his task, only for a moment or two before he looked back to the black metal before him. Jayde noticed he was not wearing anything to protect his eyes; she wondered if he was maybe hoping one of the sparks would hit him there.

"Hello there," he eventually answered in a level tone, finally extinguishing the extremely hot flame at the end of the welding torch. Taking a few steps away from her toward the workbench, Joker set the torch down before he reached out to turn down the giant stereo and speakers against the wall in the corner. Jayde watched him for a moment or two, taking note of the small, messy bun he had pulled his hair back into. The green had faded greatly, leaving a sickly, mossy, yellowish color, contrasting with his blonde roots; Jayde wondered how long it would be before he asked her to help him dye it again.

"Do you want one of these?" she asked a few seconds later, extending the half-empty pack of cigarettes toward him. To her surprise, when Jayde had been somewhat expecting him to smack her hand away, he instead reached out to take one. She was about to hand him the lighter when instead, he took a flint lighter from the table next to him and clicked it, sparking the end of it with ease. A generous puff of smoke escaped his mouth from around the cigarette before he reached up and took it from his lips, holding it between two fingers as he rubbed his eyes deeply. Jayde watched, unsure now of why she had ever come around to find him when she had no idea what to say. When had things backtracked so severely to the point where they could no longer sit in silence together and feel comfortable?

"So-"

"So-"

They both began at the same time, like some horrible, cliché moment from a movie and Jayde laughed as Joker shook his head, taking another drag from his cigarette. The awkwardness between them was almost palpable enough to cut with a knife. She wanted to get away from there.

"I'm gonna go for a walk," she stated, her voice a bit louder and more deliberate than she had expected. "Do you wanna co-…" At this, she stopped herself short and turned away, realizing quickly that she could not bear for him to laugh at her again for suggesting he might want to join her.

Joker watched her turn away and exhaled quietly through his nose. Before he could stop himself, he felt his mouth opening. "I would but-…" he started, but paused when she instantly turned to face him at the edge of the garage, her eyes lit up. He cleared his throat. "I would but I want to finish this before your car gets here." he went on to explain, motioning to the back end of the Escalade before him. This was a blatant lie; he would not have joined her, even if he had absolutely nothing else to do, but for some reason or another, he could not stand to see her so disappointed at the moment. The effort seemed appreciated by Jayde, however, as a tiny smile met her face before she turned again and walked to the end of the driveway.

Lincoln avenue turned out to be unlike any other street Jayde had ever walked on. The neighborhood seemed predominantly black and hispanic, with small houses and yards, most of which were gated with chain link, some of the more upkept houses by white, but dirty picket fences. Some yards were greener than others, some containing a barking, excited dog or an ambling feral cat snoozing under a car. On the porches of several houses sat home-owners, reading a newspaper or chatting noisily on a cell phone, enjoying the changing weather, watching somewhat suspiciously as this seemingly random white girl walked by. A few of the women waved or called out a friendly greeting, while many of the men on the porches stayed silent, staring at her as though her clothes were invisible. Jayde ignored this and kept going.

At one of the houses, about a block away from where she had began her walk, Jayde heard the giggles and voices of girls, squealing about something unknown as she approached. She kept walking, but the closer she grew, she began to notice a group of young black girls up ahead in the fenced yard of a slightly beat-up, white house and she smiled warmly at them as they looked up from the large cardboard box they had been peering down into. The smallest of the group of four jumped up to wave excitedly, her two twisted, brown pigtails bouncing, the beads at the ends clicking together slightly.

"Hi!" she called to Jayde, but then giggled to her friends when she waved back, grinning.

"Hi!" Jayde replied politely and was about to continue on her way when the little girl trotted over to the fence, ignoring the hushed whispers of her friends to 'leave the lady alone'. Her small hand ran along the top metal rail of the short fence as she walked beside Jayde for a few feet.

"You wanna see our puppies?" she asked excitedly, her smile so wide, Jayde could swear it was touching her ears. At first, she hesitated, unsure of how the little girl's parents would feel about having a stranger in their yard with the kids, but on second thought, she really did not have a very threatening look about her and she _had _been invited…So with a friendly smile, Jayde nodded.

"Sure!"

The little girl trotted over to the gate in the fence, undoing the latch to open it and let Jayde walk through before she closed it again and bounced along at her side, leading her over to the box. The other three girls were whispering amongst themselves, more than likely commenting either on how annoying or bold their youngest sister was but stopped as Jayde walked up and smiled at them.

"Lady had babies and Mommy said we can keep one of them!" the girl was explaining, reaching down into the box as Jayde knelt down to her knees. "-But we godda give the rest away…" she then added solemnly, staring brightly down at Jayde's face as she peered into the box at the three squirming white and black puppies. They seemed a few weeks old already as their eyes and ears were open and they stumbled over one another toward Jayde's hand to sniff and lick her. A warmth spread through her at the simplicity and happiness around her…a feeling she had not experienced in what seemed like a lifetime.

"They're really cute!" she told the little girl, grinning as that huge smile spread across her dark-toned face. "Do they have names?" she went on to ask, her grin expanding when the girl nodded fervently and pointed down into the box at the black puppy.

"His name is Midnight," she began, reaching down to pick him up and thrust the puppy at Jayde with a giggle. "And her name is Princess and her name is Tinkerbell." She then explained of the other two puppies still in the box. Jayde laughed discretely; she could not imagine more adorable and yet less fitting names for three pit bull puppies. "What's _your _name?" the girl asked abruptly, staring down at Jayde as she let the puppy in her lap nibble on the end of her finger.

"I'm Jayde," she answered. "What's yours?"

"Tanya," she said with a giggle, then pointed across the box to one of the other girls standing there. "And that's Shaye. She's my sister." She explained. Jayde looked over to smile warmly at the other girl, and was about to say hello when she suddenly stood up and took off running toward the open garage of the house Tanya shook her head, kneeling down to pat the back of the black puppy in Jayde's lap. "She's shy." She told her, glancing up at Jayde's face, but only to pause, her small black eyebrows furrowing together. Before she could realize what it was she was looking at, Tanya reached out, touching her little finger to the raised scar on her cheek, poking it lightly before she jerked her hand back a bit, obviously afraid she had hurt her. "Wha' happened?" she asked in innocent curiosity and Jayde felt a weight sink into her stomach when she thought of Joker and that fateful night he had 'rescued' her from those evil men. She scrambled for something less graphic to tell her.

"Oh, um…I had an accident," she lied, looking down at the puppy in her lap when she found herself unable to keep eye contact with the inquisitive little girl. The event that scarred her for the rest of her life was _anything _but an accident, but she had a feeling telling Tanya the details of the attack would scare her away…Jayde was a little desperate for a friend, no matter how young she was.

"Oh," Tanya answered brightly, smiling as she pushed her knee out in front of her to point at a small, round scar there. "I had a accident too," she explained, glancing from the scar up to Jayde's face and back again. "I fell down when I was a baby."

Jayde would have replied and commented politely on how it looked as though that hurt but the roaring, somewhat familiar sound of a loud engine was growing nearer from down the street. She looked up from the box of puppies, turning slightly as the recognizable front end of a black, Stingray Corvette became visible at the corner across the yard, pausing at the stop sign before it continued, turning left down Lincoln avenue. A flood of memories rushed the gates of Jayde's mind but she pushed them away to focus on handing the puppy back to Tanya before she stood up and brushed off the knees of her jeans.

"Well, thanks for showing me your puppies, Tanya!" she said, smiling. "But I have to go home now." At the immediate, disappointed look on the little girls face, Jayde could not help but let her grin expand slightly; it was nice for someone to want her around for a change.

"Aw!" she whined, dropping the puppy haphazardly into the box to trot after Jayde as she walked to the fence. "Well, can you come back later?" she went on to ask hopefully, reaching out to wrap her short fingers around Jayde's wrist and tug gently. At first, she paused, thinking that she probably would not feel up to walking back down there later, for fear the girl's mother would find it strange, but instead of disappointing her, she shrugged.

"Maybe," she answered, smiling. "I'll see you later, Tanya, it was nice to meet you!"

"Bye, Jayde!"

And with that, she left the yard and began walking back down toward the corner of Lincoln and Platt, wishing wholeheartedly she could take that warm feeling of happiness with her and share it with Joker.

When she reached the end of the driveway, Jayde noticed the Escalade had been pulled out of the garage, to make way for the sleek, black Corvette now sitting within it's depths, the engine cooling and clicking away under the hood. A shorter man had gotten out of the car at some point and was talking to Joker with his back to the street but turned when he must have noticed the way Joker's eyes flickered past him to something in the driveway. He smiled and Jayde raised her eyebrows in surprise- it was Kelly, the paramedic from Gotham.

"Hey!" he greeted her, bringing both of his hands up to rest on his slim waist as she walked into the garage. "How ya been?"

His hair was a bit longer than the last time she had seen him a few weeks prior, marching into the mansion with his box of medical supplies, but his bright green eyes and friendly demeanor was precisely the same. Jayde even remembered that tattoo she had noticed on the top of his chest from that night at the club and let her eyes flicker down to the neckline of his shirt, but it was not visible. She smiled, walking over as Joker stepped away to pull the heavy door to the garage down.

"Good," she lied in response to his question, but kept the smile on her face placid and free of any hint that she might have been completely miserable for the past four days. Kelly turned to Joker as he walked back over to the car.

"Yeah, man, people in Gotham are startin' to think you _died _or somethin'. I don't think anyone was expecting you to actually leave," he commented, glancing up slightly as the tall Joker stepped between he and Jayde to the hood of the Corvette, pulling it up to prop it open and lean down a bit.

"Well, what can I say…" Joker grumbled distractedly. "I'm full of surprises." He paused, sniffing slightly as he leaned over the exposed engine and his eyebrows furrowed. "Did you notice it was burning oil?" he then asked, turning his head to look at Kelly over his shoulder, who shrugged, glancing at Jayde.

"I noticed there was a smell, but I dunno. I'm no mechanic." He explained. "I also noticed it was making this clicking noise when I changed gears over forty…dunno what that means though…" At this, Joker let out an annoyed laugh with a 'tss'-ing noise as he shook his head.

"Means Jimmy Gordon and his idiot team of police mechanics fucked something up when they were searching it for bombs," he explained, walking away from the car over toward the long wall of hung-up tools and gadgets, where he paused, resting his hands on his hips with a heavy sigh as he looked over the selection. "Which means I've got a little surgery to do."

As mildly interesting as Jayde found this conversation and as much as she was enjoying the sound of Joker's voice, she was feeling slightly guilty to be craving a cigarette and walked away quietly to the tall workbench, pulling her pack from earlier toward her to light one. She hoped her absence from the immediate area would not disturb the flow of slightly friendly conversation between the two guys; she was glad to hear Joker talking somewhat normally for the first time in several days. Hoping to prevent them from feeling listened to, Jayde turned her head to fidget idly with that flint lighter on the table, but kept one ear tuned into the conversation. Kelly started speaking again as he watched Joker walk back to the car with some sort of wrench.

"Hey, what happened to that black dude that was livin' with you guys?" he asked suddenly and Jayde looked up and over at the Corvette, her stomach dropping when Joker's movement ceased abruptly. "Is he stayin' here too?" His question was perfectly innocent it seemed, but Jayde prayed he would stop here. However, Joker had just stood up to his full height, his eyes narrowed on Kelly when he went on with a laugh. He reached out to clap Joker on the shoulder in jest. "Or didja end up killin' him too?" he added jokingly.

Jayde let out a short scream, dropping her cigarette to the ground when Joker suddenly swung out, hitting Kelly so hard in the side of his head with that heavy wrench, a sharp crack rent the air in the garage like the snap of a whip. Kelly fell to the concrete floor with a loud shout of intense pain, bringing his hands up to instantly shield his head from further attack, but Joker was already to him, looming over him as he brought his arm back and swung again. The heavy end of the wrench made blunt contact with the back of Kelly's skull again, this time knocking him unconscious and Jayde had just jumped up from the bench when Joker seemingly decided the wrench was superfluous and threw it hard across the garage as he dropped to his knees.

A pool of blood had begun to seep out from under Kelly's cracked and broken skull, and it splattered like drops of red paint all along Joker's hands and forearms as he repeatedly smashed his face into the floor of the garage. His fingers had formed a vice-like grip on the hair against the side of Kelly's head, using it as a grip to bring his head up and down forcefully. Jayde had turned away after the first two bashes with tears sliding down her cheeks, clamping her hands down over her ears to keep from hearing the sickening crunch of skull bone against concrete, over and over as more and more blood pooled around the now lifeless body of the paramedic that had at one point, saved the Joker's life.

A deathly, ringing silence settled through the garage as Joker fell back from his knees, away from the body, breathing hard and shaking slightly, to his surprise. It had been a long time since he had felt white hot, maddening anger like that and the fact that he could hear Jayde sniffling pathetically on the other side of the room only made it worse and more unbearable. His heart was pounding in his ears as he forced himself into a crouching position and reached out, mindlessly moving to grab the back of Kelly's blood-soaked shirt in his hands before he slid him further into the middle of the garage. His right arm and hand were splattered and stained with slowly drying blood and as he held it out away from him, he said Jayde's name to get her attention. She did not answer right away, sending another electrifying shock of fiery anger down into his stomach.

"JAYDE!" he then shouted, rolling Kelly over onto his back to reveal a completely smashed and mutilated, formerly handsome face. Her terrified whimper acted as a response as he glanced over his shoulder to where she was just lowering her hands from either side of her head. "Go inside, under the sink in the kitchen and get me two of the big, black garbage bags." He instructed sternly, efficiently. But when Jayde hesitated, her eyes wide and her body trembling visibly, he groaned loudly, clamping his eyes shut as he tried to control himself. Despite his effort, he turned to her more fully, raising his eyebrows. "YOU WANNA BE NEXT OR WHAT?" he shouted in a loud bark, watching her with narrowed eyes as she jumped and sped from the garage, into the house, leaving the door open behind her as she went.

Inside the house, Jayde was barely aware of her actions and fell to her knees in front of the cupboard doors beneath the sink, reaching out with quick, trembling hands to wrench them apart. For a split second, she nearly panicked, having almost forgotten what she was supposed to be getting, but thankfully the sight of the box of black, industrial garbage bags jogged her memory. She grabbed two of them and pushed herself back up, only to stumble and fall a step later when she found herself too weak to hold her weight. However, either adrenaline or fear forced her back up to run the following few feet to the open garage door.

Her stomach gave a violent, sickening lurch when her eyes fell onto Kelly's bloodied and battered dead face as she trotted shakily over to Joker, holding out the garbage bags to him, only to watch as he took one of them and ripped it in half down the seam. This formed one large sheet of black plastic, which he laid out on the concrete beside Kelly's body. The length of the bag was just as long as the body and Joker wasted no time in fitting his hands under the edge of Kelly's body to roll him sideways, on top of the plastic. He then took the other bag from Jayde and did the same tearing motion to it, splitting it in half down the seam to lay it over him. He glanced at Jayde, who was still standing there in shock, her eyes wide with panic.

"Go to the table over there and get me that roll of double-sided duct tape," he instructed, watching as she immediately took off across the garage, grabbing the tape before she returned and held it out to him. He reached for it, focusing hard on keeping his hands steady so she wouldn't see him shaking from residual anger and think it was something else. But when he realized his other hand was still covered in blood, he handed the roll back to her. "Pull the end of the tape off," he told her, watching calmly as she obeyed him, digging her fingernail under the free edge of the tape to pull off a large section and hold it out to him. "Now hold that end and I'm gonna pull."

With a loud popping noise, Joker pulled on the loose end of the tape as he backed a few steps away from her, unrolling several feet of the incredibly sticky tape. When he looked back up to her, she blinked and tore the strip from the roll, without his instruction, giving Joker hope that maybe she wasn't as useless as she seemed at the moment. He went on, hoping she would catch on and take the other end of the strip of tape to place it along the edge of the bottom bag. The top sheet of plastic stuck perfectly to the other sticky side of the tape forming a tight seal along the side. Joker wanted to praise her like a child that had mastered potty-training but refrained until they had completed the other side, forming a makeshift body bag that completely enclosed the body. Even then, he stood up and ignored her as he moved past her to the workbench for the Escalade keys.

"Stay here." he instructed once more, walking away toward the garage door. Jayde watched him go, vaguely through her panicked mind, wondering where he was going now. The somewhat lovely afternoon with Tanya and the puppies seemed years ago now as she stood there, trembling next to the freshly dead body on the ground in the bag in front of her. She wanted to cry, to break down and sob hard at what she had seen but knew that with Joker so close to the edge, she had to stay strong…at least until she could get in the shower and lock the door.

With a jump, Jayde turned to face the large, metal garage door when it raised, revealing the back end of the Escalade, already opened and waiting as Joker climbed out, shutting the driver's door behind him. He walked over determinedly, not a shred of fear or panic on his face as he leaned down at the head of Kelly's body bag.

"Go down to his ankles and help me lift him," he instructed, unable to help himself from thinking longingly of how much easier lifting a dead man was when he had Tre to help him…With Jayde, it was bound to feel a little like asking a kindergartener to help him lift a truck. But as they both lifted the body from the ground as one, Joker blinked, surprised by her strength as she helped him carry Kelly discretely to the back of the Escalade, where she let him push his head, shoulders and upper body into the back before he joined her at his ankles to push him all the way in. He closed the freshly repaired tailgate and upper window as Jayde turned away, sniffling a few times as she took a couple steps away from him.

"You stay here."

He left her with these seemingly simple, final instructions before he pulled the heavy door down, disappearing from sight, leaving Jayde in the middle of the garage, standing next to the pool of blood.

For several minutes she stood there, her eyes wide and focused unblinkingly on the inside of the garage door, unable to move, even after she heard the sound of the Escalade's engine fading away. Joker had told her to stay where she was, and she could not help feeling that it might be tempting death to move even a foot to the left or right. Of course, she knew that Joker had not meant to stay _exactly _where she was while he was gone, but seeing him react so violently, so swiftly at the mere mention of Tre and the suggestion that he had killed him, that Jayde felt like it would be incredibly stupid to even consider disobeying him. However, the longer she stood there, the more aware she became that the pool of blood just a foot from her was drying, congealing into some thick, viscous goo and just the thought of that made her run from the garage and into the kitchen.

Before she could stop herself, she leaned over the sink and emptied what little contents her stomach contained, sobbing quietly as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her entire body tingled like the sensation of thousands of ants crawling all over her so after running a generous amount of water in the sink to rinse it out, she forced herself toward the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her.

With the water on and running hotter than she normally liked it, Jayde stripped off her clothes, struggling to step out of her tight jeans without falling before she climbed into the shower. A violent shiver wracked her body as the steaming water hit her skin, raising large goosebumps along her arms as she folded them across her middle. She still felt nauseas and sick, even with absolutely nothing left in her stomach, but she fought off the feeling with great effort. Her legs felt weak and shaky as she stood there motionless, seemingly unable to hold her weight at the moment, so she abandoned her idea of taking a normal shower and moved to sit down in the bottom of the tub, shivering again when the one small section of cool tile met her warm back.

Those tears from earlier returned with such force, Jayde had no time to even consider holding them back and she let out a quiet sob as she buried her face into her hands. The raining, hot water above her was matting her black hair down against the sides of her head and shoulders, creating something like a hood as she cried into her hands.

It made no sense to her to be this shaken up over witnessing another of Joker's killings first-hand, after seeing many of them up close and personally over the past year. She thought she had done her best to desensitize herself to them, although she still did not like the idea of it. But when she thought back on all the killings she had seen, all the lives the Joker had taken in front of her eyes, this, by far, had to be the most gruesome and anger-driven of them all. It could have been expected that he would react so strongly to what Kelly had said, but never in a million years, would Jayde had predicted such a violent, sudden reaction on that scale, especially when Joker was so big on loyalty and Kelly had gone out of his way, gotten out of his bed in the middle of the night to come help when he had been practically bleeding to death in his bathtub. This brought Jayde to another startling set of questions…When would _she _say the wrong thing? And what would prevent Joker from ending her life just as swiftly as he had that of his loyal paramedic?

Joker glanced in the rear view mirror as he changed lanes in the Escalade, calmly double checking that no one was following him although it seemed unlikely that anyone would be. Fortunately, the garage door had been down during his…_outburst_, preventing the neighbors across the street from seeing anything they shouldn't, in turn preventing Joker from having a whole other mess to 'clean up'…One body was a lot easier to dispose of than several. Back at the house, there was no telling what Jayde was doing and Joker didn't care, as long as she had obeyed him and not left the house. He could not imagine why she would, beyond the fact that she had been obviously shaken by what she had seen, but he knew she could never leave him completely, no matter how disturbed or uncomfortable she felt.

This most recent killing of his had taken a good deal of energy out of him, but also helped to rid him of some of that anxious, pent-up energy he had been feeling. Being in that house, shut off away from everything was beginning to make him feel caged and contained, like a large animal stuffed into a tiny box. And as he thought about going back and having to slide around Jayde, about having to avoid her in such a small place, he wondered vaguely what he would do, where he could go if he simply decided not to return.

Dotcom was now in New York, he was assuming, so essentially, he could go there and hide out for a few days until he could figure something else out. But with a rather depressed groan, Joker rolled his eyes when he remembered how close Jayde had gotten to _his _employee, former or not. It was more than likely Dotcom would call or text her the second he got there to let her know where he was and that he was…_safe, _or whatever… She would then demand to speak with him and Dotcom was probably shove the phone in his face until he snapped and killed the last, living, intelligent person that worked for him, thus eradicating the very last of his team.

But then again, all of his clothing, weapons, and other belongings were all unpacked and put away in his bedroom, thanks to Jayde, and it was probable she would immediately start asking questions if she were to walk in and find him shoving everything back into those bags. In his mind's eye, he could very clearly picture the hurt expression on her face as she dissolved into tears. He could just hear her soft, sweet voice asking him what she was supposed to do, with no money, a car on the verge of breaking down and nowhere to go. Her hands would reach out to clutch the back of his shirt as he walked through the front door and with a lurch, Joker realized these thoughts were almost difficult to let himself imagine. _What am I thinking? This is Jayde, not some weak little thing…_ Sure, she had reacted strongly in a negative way toward his killing of Kelly, but then again, she had never seen him bash someone's skull in with his bare hands, and if he was being fair, it was a rather gruesome thing to witness. It had never been his favorite form of killing, but with no knives nor guns in his immediate reach, he had acted almost instinctually and swung out with that wrench. Granted, he had abandoned it after only two hits, but something about what Kelly had said filled him with the need to do it himself, to use his own hands to punish him for suggesting he killed the one person who had stuck by him through everything, the _one person _who he could always count on to be right there, helping him no matter what. He did not know anyone else like that.

From all the years of living in one of the most gang-infested cities in the country, killing drug dealers and mobsters, dumping bodies on a regular basis, Joker knew exactly where to take Kelly, where no one would ever find him, where his body would be hidden in one of the remotest places in Chicago. An old airfield called Singling stood out at the very edge of the city, nearly a half hour from the house, where Joker and Tre used to hide out and dispose of bodies in an old, run-down condemned building of what used to be a tiny municipal airport. It stung like alcohol poured on an open wound to be pulling up to this area alone, without the urban, black-guy persona next to him but Joker swallowed this down and continued slowly into the airfield, turning off the headlights as he went, once again forcing his thoughts as far away from his loss as possible. It would not do him well to be sulking and brooding, unprepared if blue and red flashing lights appeared out of nowhere.

The airfield was completely silent, save only for the brief gust of wind blowing randomly, erratically past Joker, ruffling his already messy hair as he got out of the Escalade to walk to the back. The wind rustled the loose garbage bag around Kelly's ankles as the window and tailgate opened and Joker hesitated, taking a deep breath through his nose. It was not often, even _less_ than rare that he felt regret for anything he did. Hell, he _never _felt sorry for anything. In fact, that night in Jayde's room, that one night where he had taken advantage of her was really the first time he could ever remember feeling remorseful for something. But as he stared down at the human-sized bag in front of him, a slight pang of lament shot through him quickly. Kelly had truthfully been a very loyal and trustworthy person, over the year he was under the Joker's employ. He had always come rushing to help when someone was hurt, had agreed readily to go and watch over Jayde while she went out and had given his word not to try any funny business while on 'duty' that night. And most memorably, Kelly had been quick, immediate to answer his phone in the middle of the night when Tre had called him, saying the Joker had been shot and needed his medical assistance. But then again, Kelly had been incredibly foolish with what he said. Joker's rage was justified.

The roof of the run-down building was crumbling and caved in at certain places, allowing a good amount of drafty wind in through the broken windows and cracks in the old, stone roof. This vortex of sorts created an eerie, low-pitched howling as it whipped through the building, adding to the slight creepiness Joker felt from being in the place where so many bodies had been disposed of over the years. He looked around, squinting through the dark as he dragged Kelly's body in by the shoulders, the scraping, dragging sound only adding to that eeriness. Joker could not help but notice how much more comfortable he felt doing this when Tre had been with him. But Tre was dead, dare he admit_, more _dead than Kelly. It was high time he learn to do this on his own, as he was positive Jayde would have some objections to helping him hide a body.

The sun had already gone down by the time Jayde emerged onto the front porch, taking one step to the left to sit in the chair closest to the door, wondering if she felt up to a cigarette. She had forced herself to take three steps out into the now haunted garage, staying just long enough to rush over and grab her pack and lighter from the wooden workbench before she ran from the room and back into the house, slamming the door behind her as she went. The shower had done a bit to help calm her and settle her stomach, although she could not deny she was still feeling upset and rather shaken up. She let out a sigh when her mind took her back to how Joker used to at least _pretend _to help comfort her when she was feeling like this, how he used to kiss her or let her sit next to him with her head on his shoulder, or how he even let her sleep in his bed right beside him, holding her up against his chest as he waited for her to fall asleep. All of this seemed lifetimes ago.

Over the past few days, Jayde had started to notice a dull ache in her chest, that she could only explain as heartache. Tre's death had been so unexpected to them, so completely unplanned that it seemed the surprise of it was making things one thousand times worse. Once or twice she had let herself imagine what it would be like to be back in this house, with both Joker _and _Tre, staying up late while they smoked or drank, laughing and joking around, going out to and getting into all sorts of shenanigans. But it seemed the blunt trauma of losing his best friend so unpredictably had stunted Joker's emotions, even more so than usual to the point of where nothing mattered to him anymore. His normally funny, crazy and yet charmingly brash personality had been weakened into near nonexistence and Jayde wondered now if he would ever be able to fully recover. It had only been four days, but with absolutely no progress besides the fact that he was eating, Jayde was feeling more discouraged than ever.

The lit end of her cigarette burned red hot as the wind blew across the yard against the house, blowing the front of her drying, frizzy curls from either side of her face, carrying her exhaled smoke along with it. She wanted to wonder where he had gone, but when she began to imagine what he was doing, this caused another pang of ache so she pushed the thoughts away crossly, bypassing the ashtray and flicking the butt of her cigarette into the yard. She stood up after watching it smolder in the dead grass for several moments, wishing halfheartedly it would catch fire and burn the house down to the ground, just so Joker would have an excuse to relocate them again, preferably to somewhere with less painful memories practically built into the walls themselves. She was just wondering where they would go if her 'fantasy' played out when the sound of a car pulling into the driveway around the corner caught her attention. She stayed in place, not ready to see him just yet.

However, a few moments later, Joker's tall, lanky frame came around the corner of the house, his head down and watching his feet as he walked, his shoulders slouched slightly in his characteristic stance. Jayde let her eyes flicker up and down him as he approached, noting the absence of blood from his arms and hands, although she did not speak or make any indication that she even knew he was there. He must have just noticed her sitting there when her gaze drifted out to the distant street beyond the yard, now doused in ugly, flickering orangey light from the streetlamp that had just come on. She felt him pause just next to the chair but did not look up at him. A low grunt escaped his chest as he cleared his throat, seemingly in an effort to catch her attention, but when she forced herself to remain still, a breathy sigh passed through his nose.

Jayde nearly jumped when his strong, warm hand came to rest gently on the top of her head, sliding backwards, smoothing her hair down until he reached her neck. She tried not to shiver openly and make obvious the goosebumps that had just slithered up and down her arms from that one simple action. His deep voice broke the heavy silence.

"You ok?" he asked, his voice low and raspy as ever. Jayde tried hard not to roll her eyes. He could not have made his tone more uninterested if he tried, but she appreciated the feeble effort to appear involved. Despite herself, she nodded, finally glancing up at him.

"Yeah," she answered with a nod. "I'm just tired and-…"

This was always her response to this question, and while she knew Joker was always able to see right through that, and usually ended up _telling _her what she was feeling, she did not expect him to act like he gave a shit. However, as he reached down and wrapped his fingers around her wrist to tug gently until she stood from the chair, Jayde felt almost lightheaded with excitement. As she followed him inside the house, she paused to close the door behind them with the heel of her foot, looking up at him as he turned to her and let go of her wrist.

That awkward, slimy feeling was threatening to overtake them like black clouds on the horizon, and Jayde was just wondering what he was thinking when he took a step forward and leaned down. The tip of his thumb made light contact with the middle of her chin, the side of his forefinger just underneath it as he tilted her face up toward him, pressing his lips to hers gently, tentatively as though he feared she would push him away. Her breath hitched in her throat as she leaned toward him, putting great effort into keeping her hands at her sides so not to scare him away, like some flighty, wild animal. The scar on his bottom lip was so wonderfully familiar and yet Jayde felt as though she had not felt it against her own in years. He tasted just as wonderful as she could remember and before she could stop herself, she took a half-step toward him, leaning into him to deepen the kiss. She nearly jumped when his left hand came up to gently rest against the curve of her jaw, his thumb sliding lightly across her cheek and those goosebumps returned with surprising vigor, sending a tiny shiver through her body. Joker must have felt it pass through her and assumed it was from repulsion as he pulled away a moment later, opening his eyes only slightly to peer down into hers. She whimpered in response, her eyebrows arching in soft protest.

It had been such a miracle that he kissed her that Jayde was hesitant to pull him back down and instead stood watching his gaze bounce back and forth between her eyes. His hands were still gently rested against either side of her jaw, holding her face so he could study it as though he had not seen her in months. A god-sent moment later, he leaned down again, pressing a light kiss just next to her nose. She sighed, her breath warm against his cheek as he pulled back and before she could stop herself, she felt her mouth opening.

"I miss you so much, Kieron.." she whispered.

Instantly, Jayde felt his entire body stiffen and her eyes flew open just in time to see him grit his teeth before his dominant left hand grabbed a tight hold around the front of her neck. With a livid growl, he pushed her toward the door until her back made sharp contact with the wood. Jayde gasped for air as her hands flew to his tattooed wrist, digging her nails into the soft skin there, but Joker was nowhere near ready to let her go.

"You don't _ever _call me that again, ya understand me?" he growled, his voice almost demonic and evil, his livid brown eyes just inches from her terrified blue ones. With no air left in her lungs, Jayde could only manage a quiet squeak in reply. This did not suffice for Joker and he shook her slightly, his top lip snarling like that of an angry dog, showing off his top row of teeth. "_Understand?" _ he repeated himself in something of a bark. His grip relinquished only slightly, allowing her to take a quick, gasping breath in as she nodded from above his grip on her neck.

"Yes, I'm sorry," she answered hoarsely. "Please don't hurt me." she then added in a whimper, a quick flash of memory flying into her mind to show her an image of Joker bashing Kelly's brains in. Big, fat, panicked tears had gathered at the edges of her wide eyes, spilling down her cheeks to seep beneath his tight grip. His gaze bounced between her eyes one last time before Joker let out an infuriated hiss of a laugh between his teeth as though what she had said was laughable, just before he released his grip and walked away, leaving Jayde to slide to the floor against the door, a crumbled, trembling mess once again.

A/N: please leave a review! -QoM


	5. Distraction

Jayde stood on the inside of the garage door, staring at the dark, wood grain, listening to the slight echoing of noises coming from the other side as she wondered whether or not she really wanted to do this. Since his explosion of anger the previous night, she had not said one word to the Joker and had done her best to avoid seeing him. She had gone to bed early, slept with her back to the rest of the bed, and waited until she heard him go out into the garage before getting up to get dressed. Now, as she stood there, contemplating what she was about to say to him, a nervous wave of energy flowed over her, causing her hands to feel clammy and shaky.

Upon waking earlier, the thought of staying in the house all day once again, with nothing to do besides cleaning and watching tv, made her feel anxious and more miserable than her already borderline depressed mood of late. So after smoking a cigarette to help bolster her sense of confidence and release some of that nervousness, Jayde had gone over to the garage door and was now staring at it, reconsidering her idea. All she wanted was to borrow the Escalade and drive into the city, just to have a cup of coffee prepared by someone else and to read a newspaper or a magazine, anything to take her mind away from her current situation. However, it seemed so likely that Joker would tell her no, or even laugh cruelly that she suggest such a thing. With the threat of him making her feel even worse, Jayde was about to turn and walk away, but stopped herself and pushed open the door to step outside, taking a deep breath of self-assurance as she went.

Her eyes immediately fell to the concrete floor of the garage, where that pool of blood had been the previous day, only to feel a slight wave of relief when she noticed that it had been removed. The floor now looked as mildly clean as it ever did. Parked in the middle of the garage, sat the black Corvette, it's hood propped up and open, the clinking noises of metal on metal reaching her ears from behind it where she assumed Joker was standing with his back to the driveway. She approached slowly, hoping he had heard her step out; startling the Joker when he was feeling extra-unpredictable was never a good idea.

As she stepped around the side of the car, Joker did not jump or look up, which left Jayde to assume that he knew she was there and was simply ignoring her until she spoke. His gray, v-neck t-shirt was already smudged with a few stains, closely matching his hands, coated and dirty with old, burnt oil and grease from the car's inner-workings. His hair was pulled back once again into that small, messy bun at the back of his head, leaving a few of the shorter wavy pieces to fall in his face as he leaned over the engine, scowling down at what he was doing. Jayde jumped when he spoke, pulling her from her slight trance with a clowny, raspy voice.

"_Jayde?" _he began slowly, his eyes still fixed on the car. "Can I help you with something?" he went on to ask a moment later, in that falsely polite tone. Finally, he looked up with only his eyes, resting the heels of his hands on the front edge of the Corvette's bumper, leaning on them with his shoulders hunched slightly. Jayde blinked a few times, trying to remember how she had planned on wording this.

"Um-…" she began. _Not a great start…_"I was just wondering if-…if you didn't have anywhere to go…or…I was just wondering if I could take the Escalade and go to the city for a bit." She eventually tripped and stumbled her way through her question, glancing back and forth between the engine of the car and Joker's eyes. His eyebrows had begun to arch near the middle of her question, his mouth open slightly and he glanced her up and down a few times before he turned back to the car, reaching out for…whatever it was he was doing.

"May I ask _why?" _he asked, his eyebrows raising, his head tilting to the side although he was not looking at her. Jayde stammered again.

"I just-…It's just-…I wanna get to know the city a little bit. I've never been to Chicago before and-…" she paused. _And I know __**you're **__not gonna take me sight-seeing anytime soon…_ "I was just gonna get some coffee at one of the cafés I noticed when we were driving in…Then I'll come right back." She lied; she would have a cup of coffee at every café in Chicago if it meant being able to stay away from the house all day.

At this, Joker exhaled through his nose heavily, rising to his full height to look down at her skeptically. He knew exactly what she was doing but wasn't sure how to vocally call her out on it. His reaction to hearing his old name leave her lips so easily like that had really startled her, so much so, she was now having a hard time looking him dead on in the eyes, when that was formerly one of his favorite things about her- how she always made full eye-contact when speaking to him. Now, her gaze was bouncing up and down between his eyes, all over the place, trying desperately to find something else to look at. This bothered him and he turned to face her, taking a step closer to put only a foot of space between them.

"Look at me." he instructed quietly.

Jayde felt her heart drop to somewhere around her ankles as she forced herself to make eye contact with him, watching as his brown eyes narrowed and glanced back and forth between her blue ones. It was almost as if he were trying to slip inside her mind, to get in there and see what she was thinking and feeling but Jayde kept her expression completely passive, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing how lonely she felt, even with him standing right there in front of her. A moment later, he pulled a set of keys from his back pocket, dropping them down into her hand as she held it out.

"You don't talk to anyone or go anywhere else, understand?" he asked, giving Jayde the sensation of being a teenager again, being allowed to drive Mom and Dad's car. As if he knew what he was doing, he continued on to say, "-call me when you get there and…ya know…don't do anything _stupid_." At this, Jayde couldn't help but grin slightly; she had always understood this as his own, characteristic way of telling her to be safe. Taking another quick step toward him, Jayde rose up onto her tip toes to tilt her head up and kiss him lightly on the jaw as this was the highest that she could reach when he stood straight up.

"Thanks, I wont," she assured him, immediately turning to walk back to the garage door leading into the house, without so much as a glance over her shoulder…although, she had a feeling he was watching her go.

After grabbing her purse, cigarettes, phone and money, Jayde stepped back out into the garage, walking past the Corvette, completely ignoring Joker as she walked over to the huge Escalade. Truthfully, she was a pretty smart girl and if Joker wanted to play this up and down game with her, she was more than willing to participate. She knew, from the moment they had left the house in Gotham, that things would not be easy and that Joker would require a godly amount of patience to deal with, but that did not mean she had to lay down and put up with his constant switching back and forth. She thought she had desensitized herself to his mood swings, but had never experienced them on this caliber, never known them to be so erratic and violent in their changes. So the best advice she could offer herself was to leave him alone and let him come to her for comfort when he was ready to receive it. There was no point in trying to force it on him, when it could only end in more pain or eventually death.

Being that it was a Thursday morning at only around ten-thirty, the traffic was not very bad leading into the inner part of the city and to Jayde's surprise, it was not very far from the house. While part of Jayde wanted to wish it was a bit further, she was still fairly glad it was somewhat close, just in case something did happen, she would not be far from the…'safety' of the Joker.

Only ten minutes after leaving the house, Jayde was pulling the Escalade up to the curb along side a huge brownstone style building, where she could see the front, outdoor patios of several restaurants and coffee shops and the numerous people sitting out on them, smoking cigarettes, reading newspapers or books, or even off handheld devices. She smiled to herself as she grabbed her purse and got out, figuring that she had found the right spot to begin her coffee bar hop and after slipping several quarters into the meter, she took off toward the first one, slinging her purse over her shoulder.

The first shop was the smallest of the row, seemingly tucked into the very corner of this building, the front of it bordered by a wrought-iron, short fence of sorts, where one needed to slip through a small gate to get inside. The dark brown bricks that composed the façade gave the shop a rustic, homey feel and as Jayde stepped inside, she inhaled deeply through her nose, taking the warm, invigorating scent of the coffee down into the very depths of her. The smell alone was helping her feel better by the second, not to mention the positive, calming energy around her, given off by the content, happy people, all chatting quietly or reading peacefully. She already felt more at ease.

As she stepped up to the counter, the young woman behind it smiled as she walked over, wiping her hands on the black waist apron she was wearing high on her hips. Jayde returned the friendly expression, but could not help noticing how the girl's eyes flickered down to the scar on her face. She would have thought she had gotten used to that by now but could see easily why she still noticed it every time someone eyed the scar curiously…Jayde wondered vaguely if anyone ever thought to themselves 'wow, she looks kinda like that one guy from Gotham…that _Joker _guy…" The woman across the counter spoke up, pulling Jayde from her thoughts.

"Can I get you something?" she asked politely, her smile back at it's full form as Jayde brought her eyes down from staring blankly at the menu without actually seeing it.

"Uh-…" she began, but then laughed sheepishly. "I dunno, I've never been here before. Do you make latte's?" she went on to ask, but then glanced to the right, noting a large espresso machine and steam wand, giving her an answer to her own question. The girl responded, nodding.

"Yes, we do. We have non-fat, two percent, whole milk or vanilla soy." She explained patiently. Jayde was nodding slowly as she glanced at their cup sizes.

"Alright, well…I'll just have a small soy latte with two shots, please." She eventually ordered, setting her purse down on the counter, but when the girl hesitated, she looked back up.

"Do you want it in a mug?" she asked, apparently assuming correctly that Jayde was planning to stay around for a bit, so after she had nodded, the girl handed the mug to another barista before ringing up her order at the register.

Five whopping dollars and several minutes later, Jayde was stepping out onto the front patio with her hot mug of expensive coffee, being immensely careful not to spill a drop of the velvety foam on top as she wound her way through the tables to a small one in the corner against the front wall of the shop. The sky above the city was a light gray overcast but Jayde assumed this was the typical weather in Chicago and she might as well get used to it. Gotham's weather was fairly similar as far as the climate went and the vast difference in the seasons, but Jayde could not help but feel a bit wistful when she pictured the more frequent sunny days she had experienced while living in the middle of the city. However, the 'Windy City' was now her 'home'…at least until Joker either got tired of living there or of living with _her. _She did not want to consider which of those could come first.

The first sip of her coffee was mostly foam, which turned out to be fortunate, as the second brought her a decent amount of boiling hot coffee, which burned her tongue slightly as she swallowed it. She winced a bit as she set the mug back down, glancing around discretely to make sure no one had seen her. Luckily, the other people around her on the porch seemed completely oblivious to her presence so she went about her business and reached into her purse for her pack of cigarettes and lighter.

After lighting one, Jayde leaned back in the metal chair, wondering randomly what Joker was doing back at the house. A moment later, she rolled her eyes; he was probably still doing exactly what he always did recently and was still out working on the Corvette or whatever else he could find to work on. She knew this was a tactic for keeping his mind occupied and away from Tre's death, but she also knew this was unhealthy behavior and that sooner or later he was going to have to face what happened.

But these were not the sort of thoughts Jayde wanted to be thinking on her afternoon away from the house and pushed Joker and Tre back to the very back of her mind so she could focus on relaxing and enjoying herself. Unfortunately, she had not brought anything to read with her, which was going to make sitting there for an hour or two somewhat difficult and boring. Looking around, she noticed with a pang of disappointment that everyone around her had either a newspaper or book and seemed to enjoying their reading. So feeling slightly left out, Jayde noticed a younger man sitting only a few feet away with his back to her, sipping on an iced coffee as he skimmed the Arts and Leisure section of the newspaper, so she cleared her throat, leaning toward him a bit.

"Excuse me," she said quietly, grinning casually when he turned to look at her, a pair of dark eyebrows arching from behind his rectangular-framed glasses. "Could I read a section of your paper?" she went on to ask, motioning to the remainder of his newspaper. When the man hesitated, a quick feeling of embarrassment shot through her as she thought he was about to say no. But a moment later, he smiled and reached out for the rest of his paper before handing it over to place it on the table in front of her.

"Sure, I'm about done with it anyways," he replied politely, his smile expanding to show off his top row of straight teeth. His eyes flickered to the cigarette between her fingers before his head cocked to the side slightly. "Could I get one of those from you? A little trade, if you will?" he then asked, motioning to the cigarette and Jayde nodded, reaching back into her purse to hand him the pack. "-fanks," he muttered from around the cigarette as he lit it with a match from a book he had pulled from his pocket.

"Thanks for the paper," she returned the sentiment and turned her head to look down at the front page of the paper, thinking the conversation was over.

"I'm Charlie, by the way." He told her, inclining his head slightly when she looked back up. His jet black, short choppy hair cut slid to the side, hiding the right corner of his glasses but he shook it away a second later.

Jayde smiled, reaching out to shake his hand when he extended it to her. "I'm Jayde," she replied, wondering fleetingly if she should have made up another name. Then with a startling jolt, Jayde remembered Joker's specific instructions not to talk to _anyone _and to call him when she got there. Charlie was just starting to say something else when Jayde interrupted him, cringing slightly from her rudeness. "Hold on, I'm so sorry," she explained, pulling her phone from her purse to quickly dial Joker's phone number, crossing her fingers that her quickly imagined lie would work for once. After three rings, a raspy voice answered.

"Took you long enough…" he growled into the phone, causing Jayde to roll her eyes slightly, thankful he could not see her.

"Yeah," she started, taking a drag of her cigarette. "I got a little lost…But I'm here now at…" Here, she paused, turning a bit in her chair to glance up at the name on the sign behind her. "…Martin's coffee shop." From the way Charlie was half-turned in his chair, taking a long sip of his iced coffee, Jayde could tell he was listening to what she was saying, but didn't mind. There was no way he could tell who she was talking to. On the other end of the phone, Jayde heard Joker exhale heavily and she could just imagine him rubbing his eyes deeply with two fingers.

"When do you plan on being back?" he went on to ask, the inflexion in his voice suggesting he had not just asked a question. Once again, Jayde rolled her eyes, glancing at Charlie as he turned back around to look at her. He smirked, looking away again as she shrugged.

"When would you like me back by?" she asked in return, her voice soft and polite, hoping to keep him placated with her being out and about by herself. As long as he was still calling the shots, he was bound to be alright with it. There was a pause, while she assumed he glanced down at his watch or the clock on his phone.

"No later than four." He finally answered and as Jayde glanced at her own phone for the time, her heart skipped a beat when she noticed it was only just past one o'clock. With a new, happy smile on her face, Jayde took another satisfying drag from her cigarette.

"Ok, I'll be back before then."

"Sure hope so…"

Click.

With a slightly disappointed and yet relieved sigh, Jayde set the phone down on the table, glancing at Charlie as he idly stirred the ice in his coffee, obviously debating with himself on whether to ask who she had been talking to. A moment later, he seemed to win his own argument and looked over at her.

"That your parents?" he asked lightly, obviously hoping his question would not come off as invading or too personal for having just met each other, but when Jayde laughed, shaking her head, he seemed to relax.

"No," she answered with a chuckle, taking a sip of her now drinkable coffee. "That was my boyfriend. He-…" she paused, taking yet another drink of her coffee; since when had that phrase become so easy for her to say? Was she even sure that's what he really was?…Or had he simply become the guy she lived with… When she remembered that she had started a sentence, she looked back up from her mug to where Charlie was waiting for her to continue. "He just likes for me to check in."

"Oh," Charlie responded, turning more fully to face her. "Did you just move here? I heard you say you got lost…" Once again, he seemed to hesitate, feeling like he had maybe gone too far in their conversation but Jayde was nodding in response.

"Yeah, he and I just moved here from Gotham," she immediately answered, but then wondered instantly whether or not she should have picked somewhere else for them to have moved from…But then again, the chances of this stranger ever finding out who her '_boyfriend' _was were slim to none. At this bit of information, Charlie's eyes widened.

"Oh, yeah, I don't blame you guys from getting away from that place," he commented, his voice somewhat grave. "My brother moved away from there about a year ago when his fiance was killed in a bombing at the accounting firm she worked at. Apparently, some freak show in a mask called 'Batman' is like…the 'town hero' out there." He explained, rolling his eyes as he held up his fingers to make quote signs. "And I've heard stories about this other guy out there called…oh, shit what did he call him…"

Jayde felt her heart plummet to somewhere behind her belly button but refrained from supplying Charlie with the two words she knew he was searching for. A moment later, he snapped his fingers, jumping slightly.

"The Joker!" he exclaimed, pointing at her. "Yeah, my brother said they call him the Joker out there, but apparently, he's some freak with green hair, wears a purple suit n' makeup and these _big _scars on either side of his mouth like-…" Charlie had been so caught up in his spirited description of the man Jayde was currently in love with that he seemed to fail to notice the thin scar on her own cheek until it was too late and he back pedaled hastily. "Well, anyways, I'm betting you're glad you got away from all that. I would _not _want to live there."

Despite herself, Jayde nodded an agreement, looking away to take another sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, I'm glad to be…not…in Gotham anymore…"

For about twenty minutes, Jayde and Charlie sat outside on the patio of Martin's coffee house, talking and laughing about anything and everything, getting to know each other and the paper he had loaned her to read went completely untouched. The last dregs of her coffee in the bottom of her mug were now cold and no longer appealing and Jayde was just about to take it inside when she noticed the time on her phone. Her eyes grew wide; it was already three-thirty. With a gasp, she looked up at Charlie.

"Have we seriously been sitting here for two hours?" she asked in astonishment, watching him as he glanced at his watch and blinked several times before he laughed.

"I guess we have!" he answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Time flies, what can ya say?" he asked with a laugh as he stood from the table, then pointed at her mug. "Can I get you another one?"

Jayde shook her head, rising from her own table to grab her purse and tuck her phone into her back pocket. "No, thank you. I have to get home." she explained, giving an apologetic expression. "It was nice meeting you though! Maybe I'll see you up here another time!"

And with that, they parted ways, Charlie going back into the shop while Jayde walked out to the Escalade, noticing as she went that her meter had thankfully not run out yet…Joker would most definitely _not_ be willing to pay for a ticket…

Luckily, since the house was so close, Jayde made it back with still ten minutes to spare and as she pulled the heavy Escalade up into the driveway, her eyes immediately fell onto the long, lean frame of the Joker, standing at the back of the garage, leaned against the workbench with what looked like a cigarette between his fingers. She smiled at him through the windshield, but he did not return it and simply blinked at her as she got out of the car, locking it behind her as she went. As she approached him somewhat slowly, Joker's expression did not change, although he brought that object to his lips and took a drag from it, watching as she grew closer. But when she came within a few feet of him, she coughed slightly when her nose picked up the stench of burning weed and cigar paper as he exhaled a thin stream of the smoke in her direction.

"Hey," she greeted him lightly, forcing herself to continue smiling. The happiness she felt from being in the coffee shop would absolutely have to last her the rest of the evening, no matter how foul a mood Joker was in.

"Hey," he responded with a slight cough, turning his shoulders to tap the end of his blunt in the ashtray behind him on the workbench. "Did you have a _splendid_ uh-…time?" he went on to ask, although his tone could not have made it more clear that he was simply asking this in an effort to appear the slightest bit interested. Jayde arched an eyebrow, taking another step toward him.

"Yeah, it was nice," she answered, but then paused, glancing up at his face to take note of how glossy and heavily lidded his eyes were. A moment later, she let out a short laugh. "How high are _you_?"

Across from her, Joker held up his hand, putting his thumb and forefinger _very _close together in front of his eye as he squinted at her through the tiny space between them. Jayde laughed again, shaking her head.

"I guess so," she commented, but then decided to tempt fate and close the distance between them, once again rising onto her toes to plant a very soft, gentle kiss against the base of his neck. Joker did not respond and Jayde had not expected him to but instead of standing there waiting for him to say something else, she left him with one last smirk before she walked away to the garage door. She knew he was watching her but did not turn to look back at him, knowing exactly the way his eyes had narrowed from behind her back.

It was not long after Jayde had gotten situated on the bed to watch some TV when she heard the sound of the garage door opening and closing, moments before Joker stepped into the room. He ignored her and she, him as he moved to the dresser against the wall next to the door, leaning down slightly to pull open the bottom drawer and pull out a clean towel and pair of boxers, just before he left the room again and Jayde rolled her eyes as she pushed her finger down on the channel up button. She had hoped her light kiss on his neck might inspire him to return the favor, but once again was proven horribly and incredibly wrong. It seemed there really was no getting to him at this point, especially when he had been smoking himself into incoherency.

With the water running on the other side of the wall, Jayde felt her eyes beginning to grow heavy and sleepiness began to overtake her, despite the rejuvenating cup of coffee she had drank earlier. The show on Discovery she had just turned to seemed just dull enough to lull her to sleep, but for the first few minutes, she fought past it, knowing it would be much harder to fall asleep that night if she were to nap now. But then again, the bed was so warm and comfortable and Joker would more than likely just return to the garage or leave the house once he emerged from the shower. So with a heavy yawn, Jayde scooted down into the pillows, resting one of her hands across her stomach to let her eyes close.

But of course, as fate would have it, the moment she felt herself drifting off, she vaguely heard the pipes in the wall give a groan when the water in the shower shut off and her eyes slid open slowly. As tired as she was and as shitty as he had been acting toward her the past few days, Jayde could never pass up the sight of the Joker fresh out of a shower, shirtless, with his hair all stringy and dripping. Of course, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it, but at least she could look…

The sound of the bathroom door closing preceded Joker into the room and at first, Jayde slid her eyes closed again, hoping to feign sleep and give him the impression that she was not paying him any attention. This worked as he seemed to be ignoring her as he moved across the room. But as a wave of his masculine scent flowed through the air to her, she took a slow, deep breath in through her nose, wishing desperately she could run her hands along his strong, broad shoulders, just once, without the fear of him strangling her to death.

A moment later, Jayde had to try hard not to jump when she felt heavy movement on the bed at her feet, moving up toward her until a warm body came close to hers. Her eyes flew open just in time to see Joker leaning over her, before his left hand slid behind her neck and pulled almost her entire upper body off the mattress toward him where his lips met hers forcefully. His strong fingers acted as a cradle for the back of her neck as Jayde closed her eyes, kissing him back, matching his strong intensity as his tongue immediately slipped out to trace the contour of her top lip, before his teeth followed and bit down firmly. Somewhere over the past two seconds, Jayde's heart began to hammer against her ribcage, so hard she was positive Joker could hear and feel it through her chest.

A staggered breath escaped Joker against Jayde's plush, pouting lips and he wondered vaguely to himself how he could have forgotten the way just the feel of them against his own sent him reeling, and almost always sent blood draining rapidly from his brain. The blunt had done wonders to obliterate any coherent thought from his mind but had also left him fairly warm and tingly…and not to mention horny as _fuck, _thanks to that soft little kiss on the neck she had left him with. So now, with nothing but pure, unfiltered lust circulating through his veins like poison, he released his grip on the back of her neck to grab her hand and pull it down forcefully to where he was straining wholeheartedly against the clean boxers he had just put on.

At the contact, Jayde pulled away from his lips with a gasp, leaving him open-mouthed to stare down at her and smirk slightly at the rather surprised look on her face. However, a moment later, when her fingers wrapped tightly around him through the soft material, a short breath escaped him as his eyes closed and his jaw dropped slightly. It felt like it had been years since he had felt those delightfully short fingers around him and as Jayde reached up with her other hand to fist her fingers into the back of his hair and pull him back down to her lips, he complied, but moaned deeply against her mouth when her grip tightened.

Their tongues flirted and danced against each other, Jayde moving hers out of the way so Joker could trace his along the roof of her mouth, willingly allowing her to kiss him for several long moments before he pulled away and sat up to his knees. Both of his hands reached out to grab the top of her jeans and pull hard, yanking her closer to him as his knees separated, lowering himself until he could grind his hips against hers. Jayde's head tilted back, arching herself slightly when his hands then moved to slide under her shirt, pulling both it and her bra off together, up over her head before he threw it behind him hard with a growl. Jayde let out a gasp when he leaned over her a second later, closing his mouth around one of her nipples, his wet hair falling across her skin like ice and raising goosebumps along her chest and arms. His tongue formed tight circles around her as his hips rocked against hers instinctually, even though she was still wearing jeans and he was still in his boxers.

His hair smelled amazing and Jayde could not help herself but to fist both of her hands into it, tugging gently as he switched sides, lavishing attention on her other breast…just in case it was feeling jealous of it's twin.

"Joker…" Jayde whimpered, careful to use this name and not his real one at a time like this, when she was considering herself so lucky to be this close to him for the first time in over a week. At the sound of his name, Joker sat up, licking his lips as he watched her eyes staring down at his fingers where he was undoing the button of her jeans before sliding the zipper down. She lifted her hips to help him as he tugged down on the denim hard, practically ripping it from her body before he flung that too across the room, paying no attention whatsoever to where it landed.

The moment his thumb made contact with her most tender spot through her sheen underwear, Jayde cried out in a breathy whimper, pulling a smirk onto Joker's face when he realized how sensitive she must be after not being touched like this for a while…He could not let his pet go…unpetted for that long ever again. And as it turned out, using her as a distraction was proving to be incredibly beneficial to him and another impatient growl escaped him as he grabbed her hand to pull it down to him once more.

Jayde looked up at his eyes as he watched her touch him, loving the way his breathing sounded uneven and jagged with anticipation, like he had been waiting for this forever and could not fight it off anymore. Her lips expanded into a grin a second later when he must have felt her watching him and he slid his eyes from his positively throbbing dick up to her gaze, only to grit his teeth and thrust his hips against her hand once.

"Does that feel good?" she asked sassily. But Joker seemed to be having none of her playfulness and instead, he reached down to push her hand away from him roughly.

"'Member what I told you about stupid questions?" he growled a rhetorically, pulling the crotch of her underwear to the side. "Now shut up and let me fuck you."

And with that, without moving his hand to help guide himself to her, his hips thrust forward, sinking himself as deeply into her as he could reach. Both let out a surprising, somewhat loud moan at the contact, Jayde's toes pointing into sharp arches against his sides as Joker's hands formed tight grips on those wonderful curves of her hips.

If she was being honest, it did sting a bit at first, but once his hips had swung into a steady rhythm, Jayde sighed at the feel of him stretching and filling her completely, reaching so deeply, she could swear he was hitting the inside of her belly button. Her hands reached out to him, resting on his forearms to dig her nails in as he kept his chest and shoulders just out of her reach, his gaze lowered and focused on what he was doing. His breathing had shortened and grown shallow and he panted as he watched himself appear then disappear, over and over until he had to look away when he felt a spasm shoot across the lower half of his torso. His gaze then moved to her breasts, but the way they moved in time with his thrusts did not help either, so he abandoned all pretense and moved his hands to turn her over onto her knees.

She pushed herself up with her hands but groaned and was forced back onto her forearms when Joker pushed down on her shoulders, forcing that sharp dip in her back where one of his rough, large hands rested against the round curve of her ass. He let out a short grunt of a moan at the way it vibrated against his palm every time his hips made contact with her body and once he was positive Jayde would stay down, he moved his other hand to join his left. His thumb dug in hard at the small of her back, his other four fingers curled around her hip, helping to pull her back against him, meeting his thrusts halfway between them, forcing a short, higher pitched whimper from her each time. It was more than obvious he was hurting her a bit, but Joker did not care. Nothing mattered at that point, beyond distracting himself from _everything_.

Much too soon, Joker felt himself increasing his speed and velocity, hissing his breath in through his teeth before he exhaled in a growl and as he felt himself begin to feel close to finishing, he reached around her hip, pressing his first two fingers against her clit. Jayde cried out against the pillow in response, the intensity of the pleasure almost unbearable, causing her to pull away from him, but Joker's tight grip pulled her back to him, thrusting his hips even harder against her. He continued to rub tight circles around her clit, begging himself not to finish until he could feel her cum spilling over and around him, easing his movement. And only seconds later, his wish was answered when Jayde practically screamed his name, throwing her head back as far as it would go and Joker leaned forward, sinking his teeth into the curve of her shoulder to groan against her skin as he matched her and spilled into her, bucking his hips several last times.

A soft whimper left Jayde as Joker's tight grip on her shoulder with his teeth relaxed and his lips pursed to help soothe the bitten skin. His hips moved forward and back gently a few last times, relishing in the way her muscles quivered around him before he pulled out of her, shaking his head roughly with a groan to alleviate a bit of the lightheadedness. Meanwhile, Jayde was breathing heavily and had just sank down to lay on her stomach in front of him, pulling her knees together to roll onto her side when Joker stood up from the bed, readjusting his boxers at his hips.

Jayde felt him do this, but by the time she had turned over to face him where he stood at the edge of the bed, he had already walked away and was over at his dresser, leaning down to retrieve a clean pair of jeans. She watched him for a few seconds, waiting for her ears to stop ringing before she spoke.

"Where you going?" she asked after a few moments, unable to help the slight feeling of disappointment as she watched him dress with his back to her. His broad shoulders rose and fell as he took a deep breath before he sighed heavily, glancing back at her.

"I gotta run out for a bit," he explained gruffly, once again coating Jayde in goosebumps; she had almost forgotten the way his voice sounded for the first few minutes after a particularly strong orgasm. "I'll be back later."

And with that, he slid the keys to the Escalade from the top of the wooden dresser, tucking them down into his pocket before he left the room without another word, without even a last glance over his shoulder. Jayde sighed, rolling her eyes to herself as she pulled down the soft purple sheets to slide beneath them, shivering slightly as the cool material covered her warm skin. The tv was still on but as Jayde watched it without really seeing or hearing it, she tried hard not to feel disappointed that he had left so abruptly, without so much as a kiss or sweet sentiment. However, it was incredibly hard to be mad at him for this after he had finally let her touch him, had finally allowed her to kiss him and even let himself kiss her back and with the content memory of the way his hands had felt against her skin, Jayde let herself slip off to sleep with a halfhearted grin on her face, alone in the bed yet again.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for keeping up with this story! Now I want to know who has been reading the series from the beginning. So if you have been reading the Jayde and Joker series from when I first posted the first chapters of Sweetest Vice, I wanna know about it so I can give proper credit where it's due! And if you're a newer reader or picked up later along the story, I still want to hear from you! Basically, I want **one review** from _everyone_ who reads this chapter! So tell me when you started reading, just to quell my curiosity! Please and thank you!


	6. From A Distance

Warning: Excessive drug references in this chapter.

Kieron woke with a start, his eyes popping open to a reveal a vaguely familiar bedroom around him, and after a few blinks, he felt wide awake, almost as though he had not been sleeping at all. The window behind the painfully small bed was bare of any curtains and left space for an excessive amount of sunlight to fall in and across the bed. He cringed with a quiet groan, turning his head to glance at the space next to him. A long curtain of straight blonde hair was falling across his upper arm, the ends tickling his armpit as his nose wrinkled in annoyance and he reached over, using one finger to push it away from him and back over toward it's owner. Luckily, she did not seem to feel this and merely gave a quiet sigh in her sleep.

She was laying on her stomach, her arms up and folded beneath her pillow with her face turned away from him, her back rising and falling evenly, slowly. The pink sheets were rested lightly across her round, full ass, showing off the very top of it and those two back-dimples Kieron had so often admired on the female form. She was still completely naked from several hours prior, and as much as he would have liked to slap his hand down hard on her ass and watch it jiggle from beneath the thin sheet, it was already morning and he had broken one of he and Tre's cardinal rules by sleeping there.

_Don't ever, EVER sleep over after a booty-call._

The two of them had set down that rule several years prior, when they were seventeen, after struggling, failing and rarely succeeding to explain to their 'fuck-buddies' that they were only there for some ass…not to cuddle and wake up beside each other. Now, four years later, they had both mastered the art of 'hit it and quit it' and had not broken that rule in quite some time…save for this _one _time.

With a quiet groan, Kieron rolled as slowly as possible onto his side, sliding from the bed stealthily, all the while listening behind him for noises of his bed-mates wakening. His knees met the carpet beside the bed and he sat up to sneak his phone silently from the nightstand, but a moment later, when the girl gave a soft whimper and rolled onto her back, he ducked back down and stayed there motionless, listening with slightly widened eyes as he hugged the edge of the bed. If he could avoid an awkward conversation this early in the morning, he would be off to a good start…

From the sleepy, somewhat disappointed sigh he heard from overhead and on the bed, Kieron assumed she had turned back over onto her stomach and drifted off again so he sat up slowly, just _barely_ peeking over the edge so only his brown eyes were visible. The long, naked, curvy back of his 'gal-pal' was once again motionless and turned away from him but with her so close to the line between sleep and consciousness, he knelt back down and began crawling on his hands and knees toward the open doorway, sliding his discarded jeans and t-shirt along with him.

After slinking from her room and shutting the door behind him, Kieron dressed quickly out in the hallway before he took off toward the front door, pulling his keys quietly from the kitchen table as he went. His phone was vibrating against his leg in his pocket but he ignored it, figuring it was Tre, wondering where the _fuck _he was when they were supposed to be heading out for the day.

Fortunately, the house was not far from where he had accidentally stayed the night and in no time at all, he was pulling into the driveway at the corner of Lincoln and Platt, parking his beat-up Plymouth beside Tre's old Lincoln Town Car. Immediately, he noticed the garage door was already up, exposing the inside of the garage to the entire street and Kieron rolled his eyes as he walked in through it to the door to the house. Apparently, he would have to remind Tre about keeping it down when he wasn't out there.

The garage door leading into the house swung open freely as he stepped inside, glancing both ways and into the kitchen for any sign of his roommate, but frowned slightly when he noticed it was bare. It did not make sense that Tre would still be asleep, seeing how he had just been calling his phone not ten minutes prior. But as Kieron took another step into the house and looked to the left, he noticed the door to Tre's bedroom open halfway and the sound of the tv on within the room met his ears.

"AY, BITCH!" came a loud voice a second later. Kieron rolled his eyes as he walked over toward the room, dropping his keys onto the kitchen counter as he passed it.

He reached out to push open the door, revealing Tre's bare room, consisting of one bed, a nightstand, a dresser and tv and looking as though his decorating motif had been 'prison cell'. Tre looked up from the pile of weed and the cigar he was splitting on the bed when Kieron stepped into the room.

"I _know _you weren't calling _me _'bitch', _buuut…_seeing how there's no one else here…" he began, arching an eyebrow as Tre snorted a laugh. "_What?" _

"Ya slept ova at Katie's, dincha?" Tre asked with a smirk, leaning to the side to dump the guts of the blunt into a plastic grocery bag next to his bed. Kieron's eyebrows furrowed.

"_Yeah…_I didn't feel like drivin' back here after…but _then_ I didn't want to wake up and have her go all- '_oh, have breakfast with me! Let's shower together!'" _he explained, raising his voice several pitches to imitate an extraordinarily obnoxious female voice. "…And I fell asleep tryna decide."

At this, Tre grunted a laugh, setting the dry paper of the cigar down on the magazine he had been using as a tray and he shook his head as he stood up. "Man, you're a _pussy_. Finish rollin' that for me." Kieron scoffed, leaning down to pick up the magazine and limp from the room with a bit of a swagger, waving one arm lazily at Tre as he passed him.

"You gotta lotta nerve callin' me a pussy 'n shit, then asking a favor of me. That's some _bull_shit if I ever seen-" he ranted and raved his entire way out of the room but let his voice trail off as he sat down at the round wooden table and set the magazine down in front of him. He reached out to start crumbling the sticky buds of weed into smaller pieces, to line them up in a straight line across the top of the magazine and by the time he picked up the cigar paper to bring it to his lips and wet it, Tre was coming out of his room and into the kitchen.

"Ay, so we gotta go meet Lazer for that half-pack o' dat brown for Hairy and a O a' chronic," he lazily reminded Kieron over his shoulder, opening the cabinet to pull out a glass. From the table, Ki nodded his response, sliding his tongue along the edge of the blunt paper before he smacked his lips and licked them, trying to rid himself of the foul taste before he answered.

"Yeah, then Jimmy n' the boys want an eighth of it," he explained, bringing the blunt back to his mouth to wet the other side and his eyebrows raised when Tre groaned, rolling his eyes as he poured something brown into a mug.

"_Damn,_ bruh, I _told _you I didn' wanna sell to those kids anymore," he said, turning to face his white best friend, watching as he crumbled the weed into the center of the now flat and sticky cigar paper. "They don't even know what they gettin' or if it even weighs out so it's a waste of time for us."

This whole time, Kieron was shaking his head slowly back in forth, his messy, curly blonde hair following the movement. "Nah, Tre, I got it _all _figured out…We just gotta make a stop down in Chinatown before we go meet up with 'em." From the way Tre's mouth opened hastily, it seemed he was about to go on but Kieron held up a hand, shaking his head again more adamantly. "AH! Trust me, it'll be worth it."

After glaring across the kitchen at him for several seconds, Tre seemed to believe him and sighed as he turned around, placing his hand on top of the clear, glass jug he had pulled from the fridge.

"Ay, I made the most _bangin' _chocolate milk last night," he explained, glancing back at Ki over his shoulder. "You wan' some?"

Kieron's eyebrows raised as he finished rolling the blunt. "You want me to throw up in your car a couple times?"

Across the kitchen, Tre rolled his eyes, nodding his head, his nearly shoulder length dreadlocks swaying slightly. "Oh, right. You allergic or some shit," he joked with a laugh. "I almost fahgot."

"Yeah," Kieron answered from the table, twisting the blunt between his thumbs to tighten it. "But I would _love _a glass of orange juice, thanks for offering, pal."

A few minutes later, after finishing their drinks, Ki and Tre were out in the driveway, climbing into the Lincoln once he had pulled the door to the garage down and locked the padlock. That blunt Kieron had taken his time rolling had been tucked behind his ear but was now in his hand as he lit it, puffing on the end of it until he let out a short cough and handed it to Tre in the driver's seat, waving his hand to fan out some of the smoke that had collected in the interior of the car. A moment later, Tre pushed his finger down on the button to control the windows and both front windows slid down squeakily, letting out the smoke from both sides.

After backing out of the driveway, with the low, booming bass rattling the entire car, Tre handed the blunt back to Kieron, exhaling slowly through his nose as he pulled up to the stop sign at the corner of Lincoln and Platt, preparing to turn left onto the street in front of the house. But as luck would have it, two black girls were walking past the car and Tre leaned forward, whistling from between his teeth as they walked past.

"Ay, Keisha!" he called through the window, leaning down and over toward Kieron's seat as the girls turned around. "I called yo ass yestaday and you rejected that shit. I see how it is!"

"Oh, _hey, _Tre." The girl named Keisha replied, leaning down into Kieron's window. She noticed him a second later and grinned. "Hey, Ki. Where you niggas ridin'?" she asked in a thick slang, letting her eyes fall to the blunt Kieron was holding between his fingers. Tre clicked his tongue, motioning to the street in front of them.

"Oh, _you _know, we out chere grindin'," he explained vaguely, clearly knowing it would not be smart to fully divulge that they were going to buy heroin and weed in order to sell it. "Whatchu ladies finna do?" he then asked, reaching out for the blunt that Ki had just handed him. Keisha flipped her long, black and fake-blonde twists over her shoulder.

"We goin' to Kay-Kay's. She bout to fix me up with that yaki weave, you know…" she answered, but then paused, motioning at the blunt he had just brought to his lips. "You finna let ya girl hit that?"

"That depends," Kieron jumped in, smirking as he took the blunt back from Tre and took a long drag from it. "You got a kiss for ya favorite white boy?"

Keisha rolled her eyes with a giggle, leaning into the car to peck Kieron on his smooth cheek, but then squealed, smacking him on the arm when he turned his head at the last second so her lips landed quickly against his. Both he and Tre laughed loudly as Keisha took the blunt from him, glaring playfully at Kieron as she took a long drag from it. But as she handed it back, she coughed, releasing the smoke in her lungs in several short bursts.

"_Damn!" _she cried, blinking as her eyes watered. "You boys always got that fire! _Lord_…" Tre laughed, glancing at Kieron.

"You know we stay fly," Tre answered, but as a loud horn honked behind them, both he and Kieron turned in their seats to glance behind at the impatient car behind them. "A'right, we gotta roll." He explained, taking his foot off the brake so the car inched forward but as Keisha turned to walk off, he leaned to the side again, raising his eyebrows. "Ay, Imma call you later, ya heard?"

She must have heard him as she waved a hand over her shoulder so without wasting more time to stall the car behind it, the Lincoln pulled through the stop sign and turned onto Platt street, the speakers turning up once more as Kieron hit the blunt. The weed was already starting to affect him, filling his brain with a warm fuzziness, making his eyes feel heavy but not tired; even the music sounded better.

"_I gotta stay fly-y-y-y-y…Till I di-i-i-i-i-i-ie…."_

Kieron wasn't that much of a rap fan and usually preferred a nice, heavy metal song when he was out driving around but seeing how they were in Tre's car, it was really his choice for what music was on…That, and he didn't let Ki play his metal on that speaker system of his…He insisted it was designed for rap _only. _

Somehow, beneath the rattling speakers, Kieron managed to feel his phone vibrating in his pocket and frowned slightly, switching the blunt to his other hand to lift his hips and pull it from his back pocket. His eyes glanced at the caller ID once it had made it's way into his hand, only to roll heavily as he groaned. Tre must have heard him and looked over, turning down the volume on the stereo as he laughed.

"Katie?" he asked, but then shook his head when Kieron nodded, taking a long hit from the blunt as his eyes blinked slowly. "See? That's whatchu get from stayin' over there last night, bruh." In the other seat, Ki tossed one hand, passing the blunt across to Tre discretely as they passed a parked police car on the side of the road, although they paid no attention to it and continued without so much as a glance back. After exhaling the hazy smoke in his lungs, Ki coughed once.

"No, that girl is _always _calling me. Always wants to go do shit, like I'm not busy." He explained, shaking his head slowly as he ignored the call and slid the phone back into his front pocket. "I'm constantly telling her, 'look, _I'll _call _you _when I'm free'."

Beside him, Tre nodded wisely, taking a long drag from the cigar then pulled his hands from the steering wheel to drive with his knee while he adjusted the paper with his thumb nail. "And she _knows _you're not her boyfrien', righ'?" he asked, passing it back to Ki once the paper had been fixed, only to receive a firm nod in reply.

"Yeah, she knows. But I think she assumes that since I fuck her on the regular that we're…committed to…_something_. I don't know…I'm about three missed calls from never going over there again." Kieron explained but then jumped slightly with a scowl when Tre made a loud noise of disbelief.

"Yeah _right, _bro-... You wait- one of these days, sooner or later, you gonna find a girl that you really really like an' she's not gonna stand for this 'dick n' dash' routine you do." Tre warned, glancing over with one raised, notched eyebrow. "_Then _you're gonna be all hurt and confused like you don't know what to do…An' I'm gonna be _right _there, laughin' at yo ass…"

Kieron rolled his eyes, ashing the blunt through the window. "The day that happens, you have my full permission to put me down."

Another ten minutes passed and the blunt had just been discarded through the open window when the Lincoln pulled up outside an extremely run-down, one bedroom house, that looked as though it had been condemned for several years. Both Kieron and Tre knew this to be false and that their 'friend' and drug supplier Lazer lived there, pedaling drugs and stolen goods out of this home. The brown, dead yard out front was littered with an assortment of broken and old items, like one very old car, a tricycle, several deflated basketballs and one hoop that was missing a net. The only thing that did not fit in with it's surroundings was the enormous black Hummer parked in the driveway, sitting, glittering on twenty-two inch chrome rims. Kieron scoffed, glancing at Tre as they walked past it to the side door of the house.

"And he wonders why people always assume he's pushin' shit outta his house…"

The door was unlocked, but instead of barging right in, Tre knocked and they stood there, waiting until the shorter, lean frame of a very dark-skinned man appeared limping toward the door, a long, skinny blunt hanging from his mouth. His flat-billed Chicago Bulls hat sat perched on the very side of his head, looking incredibly close to falling off as he opened the door and nodded at both Ki and Tre as they stepped inside.

"Ay, dog," he greeted Tre first over his shoulder as he led them through a tiny laundry room and into the house. "What up, 'Mister GQ'?" he then greeted Kieron jokingly with a deep laugh, clapping him on the shoulder as they stepped into a dingy living room.

"Oh, you know..." Kieron answered in a grumble, glancing at Tre to have a quick silent conversation between them to express how much he hated that particular nickname. Tre grunted a laugh, pulling his eyes away to sit down on the dirty couch next to Lazer while Kieron took a seat in the empty armchair opposite them.

Lazer was the very definition of a stereotypical drug dealer. His clothes and car were the freshest around, but his home and décor reeked of welfare and food stamps and Kieron could not help but notice the brand new, diamond-studded pinky ring and matching chain around his neck, dangling ostentatiously over the front of his crisp, much-too-large t-shirt.

"So you niggas needed the brown and that O of Northern Lights, righ'?" Lazer asked, pulling a large black duffle bag out from under one of the couch cushions, to set it on the table and unzip it. He pulled a large, square electronic scale out from inside, setting it down flat on the table as Kieron nodded, glancing over at Tre.

"Yeah," he answered. "We were hoping we could get both for about a stack, sound fair?" Kieron bargained, but then raised his eyebrows when Lazer made an indignant noise with his lips.

"Both for a G? You out your got-damn mind?" he asked, glancing back and forth between Tre and Kieron as he shrugged.

"Maybe." Ki responded, smirking as he leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees. His eyebrows raised as he looked at Lazer dead-on, something no drug dealer ever felt comfortable with. "But the way I figure, you're probably looking for a way to get rid of that China since it's not selling as fast anymore…Not to mention, a half ounce of smack is worth about twenty-five to thirty years... And Hairy is _our _connect and isn't willing to pay that much…So if you really wanted to make a profit with a considerable margin, _you'd _be out your 'got-damn mind' to pass up an offer that uh-…_generous…_Am I right?"

Lazer looked away, back down the scale in front of him, thinking over the offer, and Kieron let his eyes shift over to Tre, who was now smirking at the side of their drug dealer's face; there was a _reason _he let Kieron do the negotiating.

"Arigh', muh, whateva…" Lazer grumbled after a few silent moments, leaning forward to pull a gallon plastic bag from within the black duffle. "Let's do both for a stack."

Several minutes went by, of bagging up the heroin and packaging up the weed, and with both stuffed down into Tre's huge pockets, they stood up, both taking a long puff from the blunt Lazer handed them. He watched Kieron take a long drag before he pointed a finger at him, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Ay, by the way, that bitch Katie called me up this mornin', askin' me if I seen you." He informed him, frowning over at Tre as he laughed loudly and Kieron groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Do me a favor," Ki began over his shoulder as he and Tre walked back through the tiny house to the laundry room. "Next time she calls, tell her I died in a car crash…or got shot…or…something. Your call."

At this, Lazer laughed, following the two tall brothers as they stepped outside into the side yard. "Alright, Ki, I'll do that. Ay, stay up."

Back in the car, with the system blaring, Tre had just lit a cigarette and was passing the pack to Kieron when a familiar song came on, one that they had heard many times and loved just as much as the first time they had heard it. They both laughed and rolled down the windows, bobbing their heads slightly as the beat kicked in, watching their surroundings for cops as they pulled out onto a main street. The words followed shortly.

"_Now I don't really care what you call me, _

_just as long as you don't call me bro._

_I bet they knew as soon as they saw me, _

_Goodnight its over with that's all she wrote._

_Streets like cold Chicago,_

_Ain't nothin' new I seen it all before._

_But still I ball like no tomorrow, _

_Goodnight it's over with that's all she wrote."_

This trip in the car lasted much less time than the last, but as Kieron had told Tre earlier, they needed to make a stop in Chinatown before they started making their two rounds of the day. So with his trust that Ki had a plan for taking them into the Chinese district of the city, Tre turned down one of the back streets that would take them there, turning down the speakers as he went so not to get pulled over for the music being 'too loud'.

The city was bustling on this Monday afternoon, full of people going here and there, going to and from work or lunch, minding their own business as they filled and crowded the streets. Kieron watched the people through the open window, wondering to himself what it would be like for everyone to know his name, wondered if there was ever a chance that he could take over a city and completely control it, either by fear or otherwise. But then again, his appearance was somewhat less than intimidating, being that he had been cursed with devilish good looks and a 'charming' personality. Like Lazer had reminded him, being 'Mister GQ' was not exactly enough for people to completely _fear _him…

The streets of Chinatown were absolutely full to capacity and smelling like hot, Chinese food as the Lincoln pulled down the main road, practically crawling along as tourists and locals alike tried to find parking among the tightly compacted buildings and streets. Vendors and Chinese business-owners stood outside on the streets, trying desperately to convince passers by to purchase their goods and as Tre pulled off to the side, into one of the metered parking spaces, Kieron's eyes spotted what he needed to find: a Chinese herb shop.

A small bell over the door tinkled lightly as he stepped inside, glancing around for someone who worked there, someone he could ask to point him in the right direction and he took a deep breath in through his nose. The scent of over one hundred different herbs and spices was slightly overwhelming but smelled fantastic and Kieron was just admiring a large jar of star anise when a short, Chinese man walked up, eyeing up and down somewhat distastefully.

"I help you?" he asked in a thick accent, staring straight up at the tall, young man as he turned and smirked back down at him.

"Yeah, I'm looking for whole oregano." Kieron explained, glancing around. "Where might I find that?" he then asked politely when the Chinese man looked about three seconds from kicking him out of the store. Fortunately, it seemed as though he had no idea what this young man's intentions were with the oregano and pointed wordlessly to another jar on the far wall across from him. "Ah, thank you." Kieron then muttered, walking away to go across and pick out a particularly plush sample.

After paying the man and returning to the car, Kieron noticed the inquisitive expression on Tre's face as they pulled away from the curb and he laughed, leaning forward to pull the small stem of oregano from his pocket. Tre immediately groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, c'mon, Ki…" he groaned. "You really think they stupid 'nuff ta fall for that?" Next to him, Kieron's eyebrows arched as though Tre's question had been extremely stupid.

"_Yeah," _he answered simply, his voice raspy. "They're high schoolers, Tre. We could go pick some shit off the ground in the park, put it in a bag and say it's some fancy-pants strain and they would believe us. Trust me…It'll work." But of course, before they could go meet up with Jimmy and his friends, they had a very important, very entertaining stop to make.

Hairy was exactly the opposite of his affectionate nickname. Kieron could guess that the excessive use of drugs over the years had caused every strand of hair on his body to fall out, leaving him bald and rather child like in appearance, if it weren't for his saggy, wrinkly, grayish skin and deep, dark circles beneath his eyes. He was missing what could have been estimated as over _half _of his teeth and seemed to always be suffering from an extreme cause of dermatitis as he was constantly scratching at a spot on his arm or chest. Miraculously, _somehow_, for reasons Kieron and Tre did not like to discuss, Hairy always had money to pay for his drugs, sometimes even carrying upwards of a thousand dollars on his person, tucked loosely into the pockets of his dirty khaki shorts, or stuffed deep down into his calf-height, formerly white, gray socks. He seemed to always be wearing a pair of flip flops with those socks…

In the passenger seat, as the Lincoln approached the downtown, crack-alley area where they normally met him, Kieron was laughing, shaking his head as he finished his cigarette. "I love coming to meet Hairy…" he commented lovingly. "He's always good for a laugh."

The very first time they had returned after selling a hit to who they knew then as 'Stan', he had ambled up to the car, sweating heavily, reeking of body odor and trembling, his eyes wide as he licked his teeth incessantly. Kieron had backed up in the driver's seat, wrinkling his nose as he tried not to breathe in the putrid stench of not bathing for nearly three weeks.

"Hey, man, hey," he had greeted him frantically, his words barely having time to be spoken properly before they had flown out of his mouth. "You got any more of that…that.. you know…It makes my teeth feel all…hairy. Got any more?'

And from then on, Tre and Kieron had referred to him only as 'Hairy' and once the poor addict had become aware of the name they had chosen for him, he decided to come up with some of his own.

Tre laughed a response as they pulled up alongside the curb, waiting for Hairy to appear out of nowhere as he always did. "Yeah, man, Hairy's mah boy. He bought me that sweet-ass TV-…Oh, shit! Here he come, here he come!"

Kieron and Tre both held back snorts of laughter as Hairy came ambling up to the left side of the car, sniffing every two seconds, obviously in an effort to keep blood from running down his face from his nose. One of his long fingernails came to tap persistently against Kieron's window until he rolled it down. A toothless smile came to his face as he laughed breathily with his mouth open, blowing a horrible stench of foul breath in Kieron's face, who winced and turned his face the other way, looking over at Tre beside him.

"Hey, guys, heh heh…If it isn't 'Feminem' and 'Tre-Z'…heh heh…What you got for ol' Stanley the Manley…" He asked, his voice shaky as he reached in to the car, holding out a thick wad of twenty dollar bills, clenched in his fist.

"We got some China for ya, Hairy. Think you can handle that?" Kieron asked, retrieving the money before slapping a small bag of broken down heroin into his palm. Hairy nodded, his eyes widening as he clenched the bag in his hand, sliding it quickly into his pocket.

"Yeah, yeah," he answered hastily. "Hey, I'll see you guys around."

And as usual, Hairy took off at a near run down the alley, obviously anxious to get back to his…'home' to try the new supply. Kieron and Tre watched him go, shaking their heads slowly as they both privately thanked whatever deity that they were not total crack heads and that they really only enjoyed a fat blunt and maybe a bump every once in a long while.

With Jimmy and the high schoolers being the only stop left on their list, Tre and Kieron wasted no time in taking the appropriate turns to reach the more upper class neighborhoods where the seventeen year old lived with his parents. He had been calling both Tre and Kieron's phones every hour that entire day, leaving messages and texts that usually asked when they were going to be around, so he could make sure his parents were gone when they stopped over, or asking if they could meet them somewhere. With the exception of Hairy, who did not exactly _have _ a home, Tre and Ki never liked to make deals out in public, especially not between two cars, as that was usually what tipped off the police that a drug buy was being made. Fortunately, however, after calling Jimmy back, he informed them that his parents were both gone and that they could come by.

So as the Lincoln pulled up into the large, circular driveway, Kieron pulled the plastic bag of half weed, half oregano from his pocket to inspect it once last time before he put it back, smirking to himself. Beside him, Tre was once again shaking his head.

"Man, I swear, they're gonna catch you on that, then we're gonna be out one 'client'." He warned, glancing through the window next to him in both directions up and down the street as Kieron grunted a laugh.

"I thought you said you didn't want to sell to them anymore," he reminded Tre. "So what's it matter?" Here, he paused, waiting in vain for Tre to come up with some witty reply. When he remained silent, Kieron rolled his eyes. "C'mon, let's get this over with so we can go home." But instead of moving to get out of the car, Tre shook his head, leaning back in the seat as he lit a cigarette.

"Nah, bruh, you set this up, so you do this one yaself," he insisted, pulling his own phone from his pocket. "I gotta call D-boy back. He was talkin' bout wantin' to get down on some spades tonight."

With an annoyed groan, Kieron walked away from the car, up the drive to the glass front doors, which opened before he even had a chance to knock or ring the bell. The tall, lanky teenager appeared there looking as though he had been waiting anxiously for his arrival for most of the afternoon.

"Hey, dude," he greeted him in his usual manner before he walked to the stairs, leading Kieron up them until they reached a long hallway, lined on either side with open doors. Although he had been here before, Kieron had never seen inside these rooms, but had a feeling they were an absolute treasure trove of steal-able goods…He glanced in each one as he passed but was left no time to walk further into any of them before Jimmy was leading him in a large game room, where he found several other teenage boys just out of school, playing video games or on the computer across the room. "Hey, guys, Ki is here!" he informed them, and Kieron couldn't help but grin when all the guys looked up and shouted their greetings; being the weed man meant having instant friends. He wondered vaguely if any of them had an inkling of how many people he had killed in his life or what he was capable of…

"So you just wanted the track, right?" Kieron asked, getting right down to business, with his mind on getting back to the house for a shower and something to eat.

"Yeah, that's fifty right?" Jimmy asked, pulling out his wallet, but paused when Kieron took a slow breath in through his teeth, his expression somewhat hesitant and almost apologetic.

"No…I didn't wanna tell you on the phone. We got this new strain in called 'Trainwreck', so it's gonna be sixty." He explained, shrugging as though it pained him to ask for more money than Jimmy had been prepared to pay. "It's fire though, don't worry…"

Ten minutes later, Kieron was squeezing himself back into the Lincoln through the open window, laughing when Tre reached out, punching him on the arm for treating his car like one of the Nascar stock cars. But once situated in the seat, Kieron looked over, raising his eyebrows in a slightly guilty way as Tre stared at him expectantly.

"They buy it?" he asked when Ki continued to look at him as though he had no idea what he was waiting for. But when he laughed, nodding, Tre rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Yeah, they bought it, _like I said," _ he explained, pulling out a cigarette from Tre's pack to light it. "_And _ I got them to pay ten extra." He went on, tossing a ten dollar bill into Tre's lap. "So you can keep _that_, for all your doubting, Thomas."

"Who?"

"…No one, Tre…"

Once the two guys had made it home, once Kieron had showered and once both had eaten something, they sat on the couch, preparing to roll another blunt when the loud buzzing of a phone vibrating beneath the sound of the tv, caught both of their attentions. Tre looked up from breaking down a large bud when Kieron leaned forward to tilt the phone toward him to check the caller ID. A second later, Tre laughed when he groaned loudly and picked the phone up, sliding the back cover off to dig his short fingernail in and pull out the battery before promptly tossing it and the phone separately across the room.

"Oh, dude, you're gonna be hurtin' when she wont give you anything next time you wanna come over, watch…" Tre warned sagely once again, shaking his head as Kieron shrugged. Tre glanced over again at his best friend's nonchalant expression before he too shrugged, poking out his bottom lip slightly. "Yeah, you're right, you'll probably have another chick lined up by that time anyways…" When Kieron did not answer but merely let his eyes slide to the left to glare at Tre from the corner of them, he laughed loudly, shaking his head once again.

A few minutes later, with the new blunt rolled up, Tre was just about to light it and was searching for a lighter when his own phone rang on the table in front of the couch. Leaning forward, he pulled it toward him and lifted it, flipping it open to press it to his hear and hold it there with his shoulder.

"'Ello," he answered gruffly, rotating the end of the cigar within the lighter that Ki had just passed to him. Kieron jumped when Tre suddenly laughed loudly. "Ah ha ha! Yeah, tell dat nigga ta bring his ass on, ain' none ya'll niggas can beat me at some spades. I OWN niggas!" He was boasting loudly, causing Kieron to snort a laugh through his nose on the other end of the couch.

"So did my great, great, great, great grandfather…" he muttered under his breath, laughing when Tre swung out to hit him on the arm.

"Yeah, dog, we got that chronic, you just bring the 'tron." Tre finished saying into the phone, glaring over at Kieron as he continued to laugh wholeheartedly at his racist joke. "Aright den…Ay, and bring some Swisher's wit you, we almost out!"

With that, he hung up the phone and tossed it onto the cushion next to him, leaning to the side to rest his head against his fist on the armrest of the couch while Kieron took a long hit from the blunt before he passed it back. Tre glanced over to take it.

"Who was that?" Kieron asked through the smoke in his mouth, before he exhaled in a large puff. Tre paused before he answered, taking a deep drag from the blunt.

"D-boy," he answered, using the guy Darryl's nickname. "He n' Tiny are comin' over to play spades."

On the other end of the couch, Kieron grunted a laugh at his choice of the name Tiny that had somehow stuck around long enough for the giant, fat, black man to be known by that name through the whole neighborhood. He could not remember exactly when he had first used it as a nickname for the man known as Chris, but he and Tre both felt it fit him better than the name 'Christopher', so to this day, he was known to them as 'Mister Tiny', or just 'Tiny' if they were skipping the formalities.

A half hour later, the front door was opening, revealing 'D-boy', a medium-built, light-skinned black guy who locked hands with Tre for a half-hug and just behind him the tall, fat 'Tiny' who smirked at Kieron, pointing a finger at him.

"Ayyy," he greeted him, walking over to pat a chubby hand down on his shoulder. "Mistah GQ, Lazer said he seen you earlier," he explained, following both he and Tre into the kitchen where they set down the bottle of Patron and the box of Swisher Sweets cigars D-boy had brought over. "Said you was lookin' extra handsome n' shit, with that 'just-fucked-Katie' swag."

The three guys laughed loudly, making noises of mocking and low 'ooooh's' in Kieron's direction as he shrugged, brushing off the shoulder of his t-shirt haughtily.

"Oh, ya know…Ain' nothin'," Kieron answered their mocking resiliently, smirking about it as the guys sat down around the table, each with a glass of Patron.

"Yeah, he said she been up ya ass lately, tryna figure out why you dick n' dash all the time," Tiny said, picking up the deck of cards to begin shuffling. "_Maaan, _you betta watch that shit, you gon' fuck around wit' the wrong bitch and end up in a whole mess of trouble, ain' that right, Tre."

Across the table, Tre was nodding, puffing around the blunt between his lips. "Yeah, that's what I told his dumbass, but he dun believe it." Kieron huffed, tossing a hand to let it land on top of the cards he had been dealt so far.

"Cuz it's _bull_shit," Kieron commented, shaking his head. "You've been warning me 'bout that for years, and I've been doing _just fine. _Yeah, Katie calls me constantly and drives me up the wall, but it's nothing I can't handle." He paused, reaching to the right to take the blunt Tiny had just passed to him. "And if a girl comes around that I really, actually wanna be with, I'll know…And _you'll _know." He then added, pointing at Tre across the table.

For several, loud, stoned, partially drunk hours, the four guys played game after game of Spades, growing louder when a particular trick was played, but then growing quiet and concentrated when the intensity level rose. Blunt after blunt was passed around and at some point, someone suggested they just bring the bottle of Patron over to the table, versus getting up every time one of them needed a refill and by the time the clock reached midnight, all four guys were incredibly high and the three black guys fairly drunk. Kieron had never been much of a drinker and had forgone it this night in particular, purely in an effort to not stumble over and put the battery back in his phone to call Katie and ask if she wanted him to come over, which was usually how his drunken stupors ended.

So with D-boy and Tiny leaving the house at a quarter to one in the morning, Tre and Kieron followed them out onto the front porch, moving to sit in their regular chairs, with Tre next to the door and Kieron in the chair at the other end of the short porch. Tre pulled his pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket with a slight hiccup before he handed one across the table to his best friend. Kieron accepted it and lit the end of it with the lighter from his pocket before he rested it between his fingers and sighed deeply before he exhaled in a thin stream of smoke.

As was usual between them, they sat in silence for several minutes, simply admiring the ambient noises around them, from the honking of a distant car horn to the wailing of a police siren somewhere far off and Kieron had just closed his eyes to rest his head against the chair behind him when Tre spoke up, breaking the silence with his deep, lazy voice.

"Ay, you think…you think we'll still be niggas when we old guys?" he asked randomly, once again showing off his ability to ask a somewhat deep question when he was under the influence. Kieron snorted a laugh as he opened his eyes and glanced over, pointing a finger at Tre.

"I know _you'll _still be a nigga when we're old guys," he answered jokingly, laughing when Tre hiccupped again, shaking his head.

"Nah, bro, like…You think we'll still-…" he went to reword his question but Kieron cut across him, nodding.

"Yeah, I know what you meant," he answered. "And yeah, I'm sure I'll still be around hiding your dentures and switching out your daily pills for laxatives." Kieron went on, laughing as Tre did the same, still shaking his head slowly.

"Yeah, and I'll still be around to beat you upside the head wit' my old man pimp cane, you watch…"

…

The pictures in the Joker's hands trembled almost unnoticeably as he blinked heavily down at them, trying hard to ignore the big, round drops of moisture that had just fallen onto them from the grooves of his scars. He sniffed heavily several times, as if in an effort to suck his tears back into his eyes, but this did not help and instead caused him to feel angry and more upset when his attempts were hindered by the formation of more warm liquid. This infuriating burst of emotion could have been easily avoided by continuing down the path he had started on, keeping the door to Tre's room closed, but something, and he was not sure what, had forced him over to it and his hand to the knob. And now, an hour later, there he sat, fumbling idly through old photographs and memories until he could not go on. In the other room, he had made sure and even double checked thoroughly that Jayde was completely and totally asleep before he had come in there…but now, looking back, he almost wished she had been awake to stop him from picking open his fresh wounds.

On the other side of the door across the room, Jayde's wide, blue eyes peeked through the tiny crack in the door, breathing slowly and deeply through her nose to keep her presence unknown as she watched the Joker cry. It seemed surreal, almost like she was dreaming, to see him portraying a real emotion, and for the first few seconds after she noticed his shoulders shake slightly, she considered running back to the room to feign sleep. If he were to suddenly jump up, wrench open the door and find her standing there, she was completely positive that his livid brown eyes and his hands fitting around her neck would be the last thing she ever saw, but something about the way he cried made her heart break and yet want to stand there and watch him forever.

But as the pictures in his hands suddenly flew across the room to splatter against the far wall, Jayde jumped, even from where she was standing and her insides seemed to disappear completely when Joker stood up from the bed, letting out a rough breath of air as he wiped his damp cheeks on the sleeves of his shirt. She backed away from the door by a few steps, begging her body not to lock up and make her immobile when Joker began to move toward the door. But in a moment of panic, she quickly turned and sprinted through the house, running as lightly and silently as possible until she could practically throw herself across the bed and to her usual place on the far side. Her shaking hands reached down for the sheets, had only just covered herself up to her side and closed her eyes with her back to the rest of the bed when she heard the light in the living room click off. Joker's presence then entered the room, silently, and Jayde could only tell he was there from the heavy energy he was putting off and he sniffed one last time as he slid out of his shirt and jeans. The bed then moved gently behind her as he lay down with a quiet groan, and as tempted as Jayde felt to turn over and wrap her arms around him in her fake state of sleepiness, the chance was just too great that he would push her away from him. Maybe one day, hopefully soon, he would allow himself to cry in front of her consciously and even let her hold him as he did. But until that day, Jayde would have to continue to show him her love, even if only from a distance.

A/N: LEAVE A REVIEW! –QoM


	7. Yet Again

Jayde hesitated at the open doorway of the bedroom, wondering whether or not she was ready to see him. Several hours prior, she had woken momentarily from the movement on the bed behind her when Joker got up but she had slipped back off to sleep with the hope of catching a few more hours. It had been immeasurably hard to fall asleep the previous night once she had run back to bed after watching him cry and had lay there for nearly two hours, listening to him breathe, long after he had drifted off. She could remember quietly sniffling to herself, wracking her brains to try and find a way she could comfort him subtly without him realizing what she was doing. The effort had still been in motion when she eventually fell asleep.

Now, she faced a slight dilemma. Although she knew that Joker had no idea she had seen him, she could not help but feel like she might act differently toward him, or seem awkward, thus hinting that she had seen more than she ought to. And if the Joker had even the slightest inkling that she had seen him crying, he might just snap and rip her limb from limb right there in the middle of the house. But as her stomach gave an angry growl, she took a deep breath and shuffled out into the living room, to pass the couch and step into the kitchen.

At the round, carved table, sat the Joker, his shoulders hunched in his characteristic stance as he read the newspaper and as Jayde passed him, she smirked to herself. It was one of the things she loved about him- the fact that he was always wanting to read something, whether it was from a book or magazine or even the entire newspaper from front to back. And in an effort to pretend like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, she walked right over to stand next to him and place her hand on his far shoulder lightly. He glanced up from reading, but only to close his eyes when she leaned down and pressed a light kiss on his nose.

"Morning," she murmured, grinning to herself as he wiped her kiss off with a scowl when she turned to walk to the fridge. A few moments passed and he did not reply, but Jayde did not take this as a particularly bad or good sign; she had grown used to his lack of communication, even after only a week. So with her stomach about to claw its way out of her body, Jayde stood on her very tiptoes to reach the box of honey-nut Cheerios on the top of the fridge before she retrieved a bowl and spoon. It did not seem likely that he had eaten anything yet so as she poured the cereal, with her stomach giving another impatient growl from the soft clinking noise, she glanced over her shoulder to where he was now chewing on the corner of his bottom lip.

"Did you have something for breakfast?" she asked lightly, hoping he was not about to give her some harsh answer. Across the room, she heard him inhale deeply through his nose as he turned the page and folded the newspaper to place it flat on the table in front of him.

"Yeah," he answered, his voice flat. "I had a big bowl of sunshine and rainbows."

Jayde snorted a laugh, turning to walk over to the table with her bowl of cereal, once she had replaced the cap on the milk and set it back in the fridge. Joker did not seem to be enjoying his joke as much as she was and was instead scowling down at the newspaper as he continued to read, his forearms folded on the table against his chest.

"I bet that was tasty," she commented, hoping to spark up some sort of sarcastic, funny conversation between them, but when he merely grunted what could not even be considered a laugh, she rolled her eyes discretely. The first bite of Cheerios tasted like she actually _had _ made a bowl of sunshine and rainbows and it took a great deal of effort not to let out a satisfied moan of happiness as she munched away contentedly. Across from her, Joker seemed to be giving it his best shot to ignore her but from the corner of her eye, she noticed him glance over before he went back to reading, giving one short sniff of vague disinterest.

"Ya know, there's only one reason I wish I could have dairy," he began, his eyes still gliding across the page in front of him when Jayde looked over at him, surprised at his rather random statement. But when he did not go on, she pressed further, reaching back out for her spoon to shift some of the cereal within the bowl.

"What's that?" she asked before she took another bite, watching as Joker took another deep breath in through his nose before he shifted in the chair, reaching out to slide his finger beneath the edge of the paper and lift it slightly.

"Honey nut Cheerios," he answered breathily, exhaling in an almost wistful-sounding sigh without looking up from the paper. A short giggle escaped Jayde as she shook her head.

"Well, you can eat them dry, without milk…You know, like as a snack, right?" she pushed the conversation further, hoping wildly to keep him talking as long as possible, even if it was about something mundane, like Cheerios. But as he snorted through his nose, his eyebrows furrowing with a slight shake of his head, Jayde looked back down to her cereal. He replied a moment later, to her immense surprise.

"That's like…drinking a non-alcoholic beer…or smoking a nicotine-free cigarette…" he grumbled, then shrugged. "What's the point?"

At this, Jayde laughed, shaking her head. "You're so cute…" she murmured, glancing over at him as he did the same over at her, but only to roll his eyes.

"…Shut up…"

After finishing her cereal and cleaning up the kitchen, putting the dishes away and wiping out the bottom of the fridge, Jayde went to shower while Joker finished the newspaper. It was more than probable that he would once again be out in the garage working on the Corvette for most of the day, which left her to wander over potential plans, knowing that she would not be willing to just sit around the house all day. And seeing how Joker had not bought much during his first trip to the grocery store and Jayde was getting tired of chicken soup and toast, she felt it would be prudent to ask him about giving her some money to go and buy more. Honestly, she had been craving Dotcom's tomato soup and although she was positive she would not be nearly as able to make it as good as he did, she wanted to at least try and put some more diverse options in the fridge.

So once she had washed her hair and used her coconut and vanilla body wash, that she noticed she was almost out of, Jayde dressed in a pair of jeans and a warm long sleeved shirt before venturing over to the garage door. On the other side, she could hear some sort of air-powered drill going, making a loud, wailing noise so she paused, waiting for it to stop before stepping outside.

At the hood of the Corvette, with his back to the door, stood Joker, his hands on his hips, his head bowed as though caught in the middle of a staring contest with the engine of the car. However, a second later, he must have heard the door open and glanced over his shoulder toward her, eyeing her up and down before he turned back to the car and pretended to be tightening a bolt of some kind. Ignoring his attempt to seem busy, Jayde stepped over to stand next to him and glanced up at his face before down at the engine and back up once or twice before she cleared her throat somewhat awkwardly.

"Whatcha workin' on?" she asked brightly, hoping to keep his mildly less agitated mood from breakfast going as long as possible. But as he snorted a humorless laugh through his nose, she felt her heart sink a bit.

"Do you really wanna know, or are you just asking for the sake of starting a conversation with me…" he asked blandly, glancing over at her face as her eyes fell to the edge of the car disappointedly, obviously a little thrown off by the candidness of his question. She pushed through it, ignoring his slight rudeness.

"So, I noticed that we don't have a lot of food left and…I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of soup and…toast and stuff…" she began somewhat hesitantly, hoping and praying he wasn't about to get more annoyed by her lame attempt at asking him for money and the keys to the Escalade. "A-and…I figured I could call Dotcom and get a few recipes from him and…maybe make something different for dinner…if it's alright with you." Adding that last bit to the end seemed like a good idea…

But as Joker inhaled slowly through his nose, his eyes focused on what he was doing, Jayde could tell he was thinking over her offer, but she could not help but feel slightly nervous about his answer. It was very likely he would say no, and to get used to eating what was in there already, at which point, Jayde would not see a point in arguing with him. However, miraculously, after a few moments, he nodded, rising to his full height from leaned over the engine to pull the sparse set of keys from his pocket.

"Fine. You can take a hundred out of the bottom drawer of my dresser. _Nothing_ more." He instructed, holding up a finger with the ring of the keys around the base of it. A mixed smile of relief and happiness met Jayde's face as she took the keys from around his finger and rose up onto her toes to peck him lightly on the lips before she turned to hop away to the garage door, leaving him no time to grow irritated that she had snuck a kiss in on him without any warning.

So after grabbing her purse and phone, Jayde went back to the garage, but only long enough to thank him quickly and get into the monstrous Escalade, pulling it carefully from the driveway. She wanted to wonder if perhaps he had only agreed to let her go, just to get her away from him for a few hours or if he had actually gotten tired of eating the same stuff everyday as well, but either way, she was glad he had said yes…another whole day at the house seemed like torture…Which brought her to another thought, as was the usual way her brain worked. One thing led her to another and to another and to another until she was so far from the original train of thought, that she could not even remember what she had been thinking about in the first place.

But how was the Joker, who was normally always itching to be out and doing things, staying at the house all day every day and not going completely insane? It could have been the fact that they were in a 'new' city and that he did not know anyone that well yet, but then again, hadn't he grown up and lived there most of his life? Wouldn't he know at least a _few _people he could reconnect with? However, almost as soon as this thought entered her brain, the somewhat obvious answer rushed in right behind it…Everyone that Joker knew through living here knew him as the other half to Tre Hicks. It was more than likely that anyone he could encounter that had known him before his move to Gotham would ask how Tre was doing, where Tre was or even if he was home…It seemed clear that Joker was not ready to answer these questions yet. Jayde couldn't blame him.

Back at the house, almost fifteen minutes after Jayde had left, Joker was just finishing the 'surgery' on the Corvette and was wondering whether he ought to pull it out of the garage to test drive it around the block. His eyes squinted slightly as he turned his head to look out past the garage, where rare sunlight was beaming down on the city of Chicago, making the neighborhood around the house a bit busier than usual. Several times already, he had looked up at the sound of laughter and voices, only to take a step back and hide behind the raised hood of the Corvette as people walked past the driveway on the sidewalk. There was every chance one of them would recognize him as 'Kieron' and he was not ready to be forced to murder anyone so early on in the day…which was _very _unlike him…Call it being 'tired' or 'bored' or any of the above, he was not sure which it was, but at the moment, he would rather just sit there and stare at the Corvette…try to imagine other things he could tweak or…

Once again, the sound of deeper, male voices caused him to look up from where he was sitting on the work bench, but only to feel his stomach drop to somewhere around his ankles when he actually recognized the two black men walking up the driveway toward him. He stood, but fought the twitch his arm gave toward the small handgun strapped to the underside of the tall table beside him and instead forced a smirk onto his face as D-boy and Tiny recognized him, even with the scars.

"AY, KI!" they both shouted excitedly, tossing their arms about in a thoroughly ghetto way as they approached. Joker swallowed hard on the knot in his throat at hearing his old nickname for the first time since…

"Hey, Tiny, D-boy," he greeted them cordially, reaching out to shake hands with Tiny first before he looked to Darryl. "Long time no see, fellas, what brings you around?"

Tiny tossed a fat hand in the air, pointing lazily with his thumb over his shoulder. "Man, I still stay right ova' here on Lincoln, and _this _niggie was over chillin' and we saw a Escalade pullin' out so we walked down to see who was here." Joker nodded, half-turning to reach behind him and grab a cigarette out of the pack on the workbench behind him. Luckily, they did not press matters further at the moment and were instead, ogling the shiny, black Corvette.

"_Damn," _Darryl started, pointing at it. "Who whip that is?" he asked a second later in a deep slang, turning to Joker with his eyebrows raised, only for Joker to clear his throat and motion at it lamely.

"Oh, uh-…that's…my girl's…" he answered, feeling as though he had been forced to pull those words out of his mouth like he had just swallowed a necktie. But then again, he would be willing to talk about Jayde all day if that meant he would not have to mention the absence of Tre…

"Oh, was that who dat _bad _lookin' bitch was walkin' outta here a minute ago?" Tiny asked with a laugh and Joker nodded, trying hard to ignore the stab of annoyance he felt at anyone referring to Jayde as a 'bitch'…besides himself, of course.

"Yeah, that's Jayde." He went on to explain, turning slightly to tap the ash from the end of his cigarette into the tray on the workbench. Tiny laughed again, nudging him on the arm with his elbow.

"See, man? I knew you was gon' settle down eventually, jus' like Tre said…" he pointed out, but then frowned, glancing around as though expecting the other half of Kieron to come popping out from any direction. "Speakin' of, where is dat nigga? I ain' seen him since he was bouta leave to come stay witchu in Gotham…"

_Fuck…_

At this, Joker cleared this throat, turning to tap the ash off again, even though there was none surrounding the burning cherry of his cigarette. "Oh, uh-…" _How do I say this? _ "He…isn't with…us…anymore." _NOT like that._

Silence fell through the garage as Joker averted his eyes to front wheel of the Corvette, trying hard to ignore the blank looks of shock on both Darryl and Tiny's faces as they glanced at each other.

"Oh, _shit, _bruh…" Tiny grumbled, sliding his hands into the very tops of his pockets, which were so low on his legs, he could barely reach half of his fingers into them. He paused, before he tsk-ed, shaking his head. "_Damn! _That fuckin' sucks, bro. I'm sorry, nigga." He offered his condolences the best he knew how, watching as Joker shrugged, taking a long drag from his cigarette, finally bringing his eyes back over from the car. "When?" Tiny then went onto ask.

_Three years ago? Yesterday? Last Monday? _

"'Bout a week ago," he finally answered with another shrug, wishing desperately he could just melt into the concrete floor to avoid any more of this conversation as Darryl and Tiny both made noises of disbelief.

"Well, ay-" Darryl started a few seconds later, reaching up to the side of his black beanie hat, pulling a pre-rolled blunt out from tucked up into it. He held it up, smirking. "Less burn this one down fa' Tre…Ya know, in his honor n' shit."

At first, Joker hesitated, glancing back and forth between Tiny and Darryl, honestly wishing they would just go away and leave him there alone, but then again, it was nice to be around someone who actually knew Tre the way he did, people who had seen Tre in his prime. So he nodded and put his cigarette out, hoping Jayde would not return while these two guys were here.

Several miles away, Jayde had just entered the grocery store and was pulling her cell phone out of her pocket to quickly search for Dotcom's phone number before she pressed the green button and held it to her ear excitedly. She was just grabbing a cart when it began ringing, and only did so twice before a _very _girly squeal answered.

"JAYDE!" came Dotcom's voice through the speaker. "I was just about to call you, honey! How _are _you?"

Jayde's smile was almost too immense for her face as she brought her purse down from her shoulder and placed it in the front portion of the shopping cart. "I'm good!" she only partially lied this time, thinking back to the mildly OK morning she and Joker had experienced. "Well…better, at least. Jo-…" she paused as an elderly lady walked past. "He's doing a little bit better. He's eating regularly now which is a good sign, I guess. Still pretty moody though…" Here, she wanted to mention catching Joker in Tre's room crying the previous night, but then reconsidered and voted against it, deciding it was really no one's business…not even technically hers either, for that matter.

"Oh, well, that's good. And yeah, he's always been moody, so I guess he's getting back to normal a little bit." Dotcom answered somewhat gravely, but in a _very _gay voice…Jayde figured that being able to hang around with his 'own kind' all the time was making him a little more flamboyant than he had been around the Joker. "So anyways, what's up, girl?"

"Well, I'm at the grocery store, and I wanted to try and make that tomato soup you're _sooo _good at making. What's the recipe?"

Of course, Dotcom was simply _delighted _that Jayde was daring enough to attempt his recipe for the thick tomato soup the boys had enjoyed so much and wasted no time in rattling off a rather extensive list of ingredients, from everything like heirloom tomatoes to big red tomatoes, to saffron and cumin, vegetable _and _beef stock and was about to go on with the cooking instructions when Jayde cut him off, laughing.

"Wait, wait, I'm not gonna be able to remember all that." She said, giggling when Dotcom also laughed and she eyed the top row for the beef stock as she ambled along. "So just text it to me and-…" Just then, Jayde let out a squeal when the end of her fairly full cart bumped into something and she looked over quickly, almost dropping her phone when she noticed she had run her cart right into someone's back side. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry," she breathed, holding out a hand toward the man, but when he turned, she blinked, then smiled- it was Charlie. His bright blue eyes widened from behind his black-framed glasses when he realized who it was.

"Dotcom, let me call you right back," she murmured hurriedly into the phone before she hung up and placed it in her purse before turning back to Charlie, who was now rubbing his lower back jokingly. "God, Charlie, I'm so sorry!" she cried, shaking her head as he laughed. "I was on the phone with my friend Do-…Andrew and totally wasn't paying attention…Are you alright?" He laughed, waving a hand dismissively.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it," he answered, but then motioned to her. "I'm surprised to see you again, though! Chicago isn't that small of a city to be running into the same stranger twice!" At this, he paused, arching an eyebrow in a jokingly suspicious way. "You haven't been following me, have you…"

Jayde laughed, shaking her head. "No, definitely not. I just didn't know of any other grocers around here!" Charlie shrugged in response, motioning to the meager amount of items he had already put in his cart.

"Well, I'm really terrible at shopping so…you wanna help me get some actual food? My brother gets mad when I come back with only Ramen, chips and ice cream…" he explained with another sheepish shrug, but then sighed in relief when Jayde laughed with a nod.

"Sure, let's go."

Down the next aisle, they came across the breads and cereals, where they found buns to go with the package of hot dogs he had picked up already, then found a box of Cheerios. He pulled down a box of the Honey-nut kind, reminding Jayde of her conversation that morning with the Joker. She smirked to herself, but decided not to divulge the somewhat humorous story to Charlie. She pointed at the box once he had put it in his cart.

"You're probably going to want some milk to go with that right?" she suggested kindly, then laughed when Charlie rolled his eyes and leaned down a bit, resting his forearms on the handle of the shopping cart to lean on it and push it to the right toward the chilled, dairy section of the store.

"Yeah, you're right." he answered, shaking his head. "Man, I'm glad I ran into you here. I probably would have just left with the cereal and no milk.." He then paused, glancing back at Jayde over his shoulder with a smirk. "Or rather, I'm glad _you _ran into _me." _ She rolled her eyes with a grin.

Down at the refrigerated section, the two carts slowed so they could walk slowly between the long, chilled cases of milk, cheese, butter, eggs and yogurts and Charlie had just reached out for a gallon of two-percent milk, when Jayde's eyes fell onto a large section of assorted soy milk. Her heart gave a little flutter when she thought of Joker's reaction to her solving his crisis of missing out on Honey-nut Cheerios, but hesitated, wondering if he would surprise her yet again and get mad over something so trivial as trying to help him. Of course, if he didn't like it, she could always use the soy milk to flavor her coffee or even have it with her own cereal…So after grabbing one carton of plain, slightly sweetened soy milk and another of chocolate soy milk, she placed them both in her cart, glancing over to where Charlie was perusing a few shelves of frozen pizza. He looked up as she walked up to him smiling, before he glanced down at her cart and arched an eyebrow as he pointed at the soy milk.

"Are you lactose intolerant?" he asked but Jayde shook her head with a laugh.

"No, my…boyfriend is," she answered, but then paused and decided to go on. "He was telling me this morning how he only wishes he could have milk because he really likes Honey-nut Cheerios and never gets to eat them." She finally explained, grinning when Charlie laughed. If there was only a way for Joker to find this as amusing...

"Why didn't your man come with you?" he asked a few moments later, after putting several of the frozen pizzas in his cart. "Does he work?"

Jayde felt an uneasy squirm from her insides when she realized she was suddenly being forced to figure out a lie and she stammered for a second before she answered. "Uh-…Not yet. We just moved here so…yeah…" Charlie nodded, glancing over as they began pushing their carts down the next aisle.

"What's his name anyways? I don't think you told me-…" he asked out of what seemed to Jayde like innocent curiosity but instead of saying the name that was on the tip of her tongue, she paused, smiling to herself as she answered.

"Kieron." She replied, hoping he would not ask for a last name.

Charlie's eyebrows raised. "Oh, that's an interesting name. What does he look like?" he went on to ask, pulling a bag of chips down off of a shelf into his cart. Jayde took a deep breath, imagining the way Kieron actually _did _look and her smile expanded when a warm flush of goosebumps coated her arms.

"Well…he's pretty tall. About…six-four, I guess. Longish, almost shoulder-length blonde hair, brown eyes…" _Big scars on either side of his mouth, one deep one in the middle of his bottom lip…Big dick…_She shared a private giggle with herself when Charlie nodded.

"He sounds like an Abercrombie and Fitch model." He commented with a laugh as Jayde's giggles went on and she shook her head.

"No, he's handsome but not in a 'pretty boy' way…" _More like in a 'total monster' sort of way…_

So after winding their way through the rest of the store, and after helping Charlie put together several meals worth of groceries, they both checked out in separate lanes and wheeled their bags out to their separate cars, bidding each other goodbye from across the lane of parking spaces.

"I'm sure I'll see you around!" Jayde called to him, smiling as he waved, but then paused before climbing into the car as he trotted over.

"Well, hey, let me get your number so we can meet for coffee or something," he offered, but then held up a hand in defense at the somewhat blank expression on her face. "Don't worry, just as friends," he explained, then chuckled. "I don't have a whole lot of friends. I'm kind of a loser." He then joked with a shrug as Jayde laughed.

So after giving Charlie her phone number, somewhat hesitantly with the thought that Joker might see a call from him and get a little protective…or something…she pulled the Escalade from the parking lot and turned back onto the main road to head back to the house. She was excited and yet a little bit nervous to see Joker's reaction to that soy milk…

Joker looked up from just handing the much smaller blunt back to Tiny when the quiet sound of crunching tires at the end of the driveway caught his attention and both black guys turned to see what he had noticed. Through the windshield, he noted the peaceful grin on her face and wondered what about a trip to the store had seemed to make her so happy. He was just imagining her getting excited over a special on tampons when she climbed out of the driver's seat to walk around the back and pull down the tailgate. Tiny turned to him, raising his eyebrows.

"Damn, bruh, she _fine._ Where you find her at?" he asked, causing an unavoidable smirk to jump to Joker's face as he grunted a laugh.

"I had just blown up an accounting firm in Gotham when I noticed her sitting in the window at a Starbucks…So I kidnapped her and…she's been _incredibly _hard to get rid of since…" he explained somewhat gravely, grinning when Tiny and Darryl both laughed.

"Ay, I don' blame you, dog. She fine as hell…"

By then, Jayde was walking up toward the garage, looking slightly winded but still smiling widely as she carried a few bags at her sides. As was usual with her, she did not seem put off or at all shy with the presence of strangers and instead greeted them politely.

"Hey, guys," she said to all three of them, sniffing a few times when she noticed the stench of burning weed and cigar paper filling the garage. Her eyes then moved to Joker as if communicating silently to him that it would be nice of him to introduce his 'friends'. He pointed at the lighter skinned of the two.

"That's Darryl," he explained, then motioned to the fat one. "That's Tiny. Guys, Jayde." He then finished, pointing at her.

"Hi," she said brightly, but then looked back to Joker with her eyebrows raised. "Will you help me, please?" she asked politely before she turned to go inside, leaving Joker to stand up from the bench with a heavy roll of his eyes. Tiny and Darryl both laughed before they clapped him on the shoulder or bumped their fist against his.

"A'right, Ki, stay up." Tiny said, but then braced his shoulder with a fat hand, shaking him slightly. "And I'm sorry 'bout Tre, dog. If there's anythin' we can do, juss holla." Joker nodded, but then watched them walk away, sliding his hands down into his pockets.

_Can you bring him back to life?_

Jayde turned from her place at the cabinets where she stood unloading the groceries when the garage door swung open to reveal Joker, carrying the rest of the bags in one hand before he set them down near the end of the counter. It was obvious he was not about to help her and instead sat down at the table, resting his elbows on it to rub his stoned, lazy eyes with the heels of his hands. Jayde watched him for a moment, wondering wildly how being around some of his old friends had managed to put him into a seemingly worse mood, but then shrugged to herself and continued putting things away until she reached the bag containing the soy milk and her stomach gave a nervous lurch. Perhaps she should wait until he was in a better mood…At this, she nearly laughed out loud. Compared to his others, this _was _a better mood…

So she retrieved one of the clean glasses from the cabinet before pouring a small amount of the chocolate soy milk into it and walked it over to the table, to set it down in front of Joker a bit heavily, to catch his attention with the sound. His hands moved from his eyes slowly and he blinked several times as he glanced down at the glass before up at Jayde. His jaw went slightly slack when he noticed the beaming, excited expression on her face. One of his fingers pointed lazily at the glass.

"What's that." He asked in a tone that did not even remotely sound like a question. Jayde's grin expanded, if possible, even further as she pulled out the chair next to him and sat down, resting her arms on the table.

"It's chocolate milk," she answered. "Try it."

For several seconds, Joker's expression did not change as he stared blankly at her, but when he seemed to decide she was not going to leave him alone until he obeyed her, he reached out and lifted the glass to his nose, sniffing it. Jayde watched him, her eyebrows nearly disappearing into her hairline. However, a moment later, he brought the glass away from him, holding up one finger from against the rim.

"Are you trying to poison me?" he asked and Jayde giggled, although from the expression on his face, it seemed his question had been perfectly serious and she sighed, shaking her head.

"_No, _I'm not trying to _poison _you." She answered firmly, motioning at the glass. "Just try it. I _promise _it wont make you sick."

_Finally, _after several more seconds of scowling suspiciously at her, Joker brought the glass to his lips and drained it, apparently deciding that if she was indeed trying to poison him, he might as well do it big. But as he swallowed and set the glass down, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in something that looked almost like surprise. Jayde's grin returned in full force.

"Good?" she asked excitedly, pulling the glass toward her.

"Uh…Yeah, that's kinda good," he answered honestly, but then remembered with a pang the way Tre used to boast over his 'bangin' chocolate milk'. He pushed the memory away as unsuccessfully as he had the night before. "What is that?"

He looked up and over at Jayde but nearly jumped when she set a half-gallon carton of milk in front of him with a proud smile.

"It's soy milk," she explained. "I got you chocolate and regular…so you can have Honey-nut Cheerios." It was on the tip of her tongue to add a 'with me' on the end of that but held it back with great effort as Joker nodded, pulling the carton toward him to read the label.

"Hm…" he hummed interestedly before he pushed it back to her. "Well, uh-…thanks."

So with Joker feeling as though his part in the kitchen was obviously done, he stood up and left the room, leaving Jayde alone while he went to the bathroom for a shower. It wasn't long before she heard the water start running and with a jolt, she suddenly remembered her rushed words to Dotcom promising him that she would call him back. So after pulling out the tomatoes and other ingredients she had bought at the store, she retrieved her phone to call him and get those instructions on how to make the soup. It warmed her heart to think that Joker would enjoy it and maybe even feel a little bit happy she had taken the initiative to make it for them.

The phone rang and rang until Dotcom finally answered and Jayde grinned with he tutted jokingly.

"Oh, hey, miss.'I'll call you right back'…" he began, leaving Jayde to grin to herself on the other end.

"I'm _sorry!" _she exclaimed. "I ran my cart into my friend Charlie and…I dunno, I'm trying to keep a friend, you know?" she explained, glancing over her shoulder, even though she could clearly hear the water running in the other room. It was not immediately obvious to her why she was trying to keep Charlie a secret from Joker, but with so much going on at his end, it did not seem likely he needed to worry about anything else, like her being unfaithful, which was most definitely _not _the case with her new friend.

So after Dotcom had excitedly asked her to tell him about Charlie and had asked eventually if she thought he was gay, only for her to say no, they got down to business and Jayde somehow managed to find a piece of paper in a drawer, along with a pen. She sat down at the table with the phone on speaker and was _just _about to start writing when the water shut off in the bathroom. Glancing over, she noticed Joker step out a few moments later, a towel wrapped low around his hips, his hair dripping freely on his shoulders and chest as he walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind him. Jayde sighed, shaking her head a bit at how she so wished she could go in the room while he was naked in there without feeling like she was risking her life…

"Ok, so first you have to cut the tomatoes and set them to simmer in the vegetable stock until they-…" Dotcom immediately launched into a detailed description of the first few steps of the cooking process and Jayde was so focused on writing them down as quickly as she could, she somehow failed to hear the bedroom door open again. Joker's presence went completely undetected until he was standing right next to her and Jayde jumped with a soft gasp when she finally noticed him. He had already changed into jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, his black high top Converse already on and Jayde had just noticed them when he spoke.

"I'm going over to Tiny's for a while." He explained, apparently unaware that Dotcom was on the phone with the speaker on and could hear every word. He was positive Jayde was wanting to ask him _why, _but was grateful that she refrained and merely nodded, looking slightly disappointed, but he ignored this and walked away, over to the garage door to disappear through it. Jayde sighed heavily when the sound of the Corvette roaring to life met her ears and her fingers raked into the front of her hair as her good mood disappeared almost instantly. On the phone, Dotcom was silent.

"Hey…" she started, hoping not to sound too upset. "I'm…not gonna make this tonight, I'm just gonna…I'll make it tomorrow or something." Despite her efforts to keep her voice casual, Dotcom could seemingly tell she was feeling supremely disappointed.

"Alright, sweetie. Call me later if you wanna talk. I'm always here." he offered kindly and after Jayde had told him she would call him later or tomorrow, they hung up and she left her half completed instructions at the table to go have a cigarette.

The rest of that afternoon passed at an impossibly slow crawl, leaving Jayde to smoke several cigarettes in a row, shower yet a second time that day, before she eventually got on the bed, after eating a small dinner by herself. While she wanted to be happy for Joker that he had reconnected with a few friends from his past, she could not help but feel slightly worried about him being out for so long with people she had never met before, besides for the five seconds earlier that day. She could be positive they were smoking and even possibly doing other drugs and just the thought of Joker putting his life at risk for a few hours distraction made her nervous and restless. Plaiting braids into her hair while she watched the home and garden network could only hold her attention for so long before she grew bored and slightly irritated.

Jayde was not sure how long it had been or even when she fell asleep but the loud banging of a door woke her from her slumber with a jolt, her heart automatically bursting into a racing rhythm as she jumped up from the bed. Her first thought was that she had forgotten to lock one of the doors and that someone was now breaking into the home at the most inopportune moment, while Joker was gone, but as she stepped into the hallway to peek out timidly into the dark living room, she gasped and nearly let out a scream when a pair of large rough hands grabbed her hips and pushed her backwards. A set of familiar, scarred lips met hers a second later, and that gasp she had taken in released in a quiet moan as her hands snaked up to Joker's shoulders.

She could taste and smell the liquor on him instantly but ignored this for the time being as he leaned down mid-kiss to grab the back of her thighs and lift her off the ground so she could wrap her legs around his middle. His first steps toward the bed were a bit staggered but he eventually seemed to catch his balance, just in time to push her off of him until she landed on her back on the bed, bouncing slightly as he followed, his hair falling in his face as he leaned over her.

It was obvious to Jayde that the liquor was fueling this somewhat ravenous state he was in, but if he was interested in touching her and kissing her, she was not about to stop him. The way his hand traveled along the right side of her body to the bottom of her shirt was already forcing her to forget how upset she had been earlier about him leaving and she sighed gently as he pushed it up along her torso. Her stomach was revealed to him and he leaned down, pressing his lips to it, to leave a soft kiss as he exhaled, his warm breath tickling her. One of her hands raked into the top of his hair and she was about to hope he would take his lip's explorations more south when instead, he pulled her shirt completely off of her and tossed it behind him, immediately pushing his hand underneath her back to the clasp of her bra.

When normally, it only took him one swift attempt to unfasten it one-handedly, this time, his fingers seemed to be only getting in the way as he struggled with it at first. Jayde arched her back and was about to help him when he got it undone and wasted no time in pulling that away from her body as well, tossing it to join her shirt on the other side of the room. His mouth then closed over her nipple while his left thumb traveled across the other, swirling his tongue in tight circles around her as she whimpered and gasped, squirming beneath him.

A quiet thud, followed shortly by another, at the end of the bed told Jayde that Joker had just kicked his shoes off and was already reaching down to unbuckle his belt when he pulled his mouth away from her breast. The drunkenness he was experiencing was making him slightly dizzy but this really only added to the rush when he felt Jayde move his hands gently and continue to undo his belt for him. It was completely dark in the room, save for the light of the tv behind him, and he could see her staring up at him, watching him as he gave a slight sway on his hands, rocking to the side a bit. The next moment, a wonderful amount of pressure was relaxed from where he had been straining at his uncomfortable jeans and as Jayde's perfect fingers moved to wrap around him behind his boxers, he let out a deep, growling moan against her neck, his hips rocking against her grip.

"'S pretty big, huh.." he mumbled stupidly to her, barely aware of what he had said when he felt Jayde nod against the side of his head. Another content groan escaped him as he bit down on her neck hard enough to bruise. "So you prolly want that, hm?" Again, Jayde nodded, tilting her head back with a pained whimper, honestly trying to make him stop biting her when it began to really hurt. It was beginning to become clear that Joker was not in the right state of mind to be doing this, but again, Jayde did not want to stop him. _Any _sort of affection he showed her lately had to be considered precious and rare…

"Can I please have that?" she asked quietly, grinning playfully up at him in the dark when he pulled back and his eyes narrowed down at her as he licked his lips, letting his gaze fall down her naked upper body.

In a moment of lucidity, Joker noticed that she was still wearing her jeans and he pointed at them, tucking the top half of his pointer finger into the lining, tugging at the denim.

"You can't have this dick while you have pants on, Ka-Jayde…" he mumbled, clearing his throat as some miraculous stoke of mercy managed to let him catch himself before he _stupidly _called her 'Katie'. Luckily, she did not seem to notice and instead giggled, lifting her hips to unbutton and unzip her jeans, more quickly and efficiently than he could ever have, given his current state.

So with Jayde's jeans and panties both discarded, leaving him in just his boxers, she brought her arms up to wrap around his shoulders, pulling herself closer to his neck where she kissed him there lightly, gripping his hips with her knees. Joker groaned when he numbly felt goosebumps crawling all over his arms and back when she exhaled against the moist skin on his neck.

"Can I have that _now, _please?" she asked, her voice as soft and light as she could make it and she kissed the top of his scar when she felt him shiver slightly, whether from her words or the alcohol, she was not sure. But as his hand moved to grab the back of her hair and pull her away from him, down to the bed, he growled, reaching down to wrap his own hand around himself.

"Yes, _ma'am_…" he answered, releasing his grip on her hair. "But only 'cause you asked _so _nicely…"

And as his hips rocked forward to enter her, Jayde tilted her head back, arching her back as she immediately started to pant, before he even had a chance to start moving. It was amazing to her, astounding even, how he still managed to be so incredibly sexy, even when he was as drunk as he was and as his hips began to rock back and forth in a quick, rough rhythm against hers, Jayde's nails dug into his back. Of course, Joker either did not feel this or was enjoying it as he groaned, sitting up to his knees to reach out and grip one of her breasts with one hand while the other rested on her hip, helping to pull her to him with each thrust.

"_Fuck, _that pussy feels good," he growled, his voice deep and demonic sounding, carpeting Jayde in yet another bout of goosebumps. He paused, opening his eyes to look down at her. "That dick feel right?" he asked, his voice then somehow different from normal, with a bit of a slang to it but Jayde ignored this as she nodded, tilting her head back. However, a second later, he hissed a breath in through his teeth as his hand flew to wrap his fingers around the front of her neck, squeezing gently. "You gonna answer me, girl?" he then practically snarled at her, bucking his hips hard against her as Jayde gasped.

"God, YES!" she cried in response to him, sliding her eyes closed as Joker's hips flew into an unbridled rhythm against hers, sending a warm, flowing sensation down into her toes as she pointed them on the bed on either side of his knees.

Joker was panting, sweating slightly and feeling remarkably close to finishing already but fought it off so he could pause and roll Jayde onto her side. Jayde must have picked up on the less than subtle hint and pushed herself shakily onto her knees yet again, so he could fuck her in his favorite style before that time approached. Her entire body trembled as he pushed into her again, stretching her so far it hurt a little and his large, warm hands met the small of her back as he once again forced that deep dip that he counted as easily one of his favorite things about her. While he was perfectly aware that this position was a little more painful for her, he was the furthest from caring that he had ever been and once again began bucking his hips against her, growling quietly with each thrust until his head dropped back and he groaned at the ceiling.

Jayde could feel herself getting closer to her own finish, even without the aid of being touched further, but as she felt Joker's speed pick up just a bit more, she realized this was about to be over much too soon, before she could get hers…Again, she did not mind and was just thankful that Joker had chosen to come home and do this with her, versus some other slut somewhere else…

Only a few moments later, Jayde felt Joker spilling into her, his thrusts only slowing slightly as he came and for a few seconds, it seemed as though he might attempt to keep going until he became fully hard again. But as he finished, a heavy breath left his chest as he leaned forward, wearily resting his cheek against the side of her back, wrapping one of his arms around her waist in some sort of backwards hug while he seemingly tried to gain enough energy to pull out of her and roll over.

But as he did this and Jayde turned onto her side to face where she had assumed he was going to land, she sat up fully, clutching the sheets to the front of her naked body when he stood up from the bed and walked over to his dresser. The sound of wood scraping against wood reached her on the bed as Joker pulled open a drawer and leaned down, swaying dangerously before his shoulder and the side of his body made contact with the front of the dresser, rocking it backwards so it collided against the wall behind it with a dull thud. He groaned in response to this and went on to lean down and pull out a pair of long basketball shorts.

Jayde watched him from the bed, wondering how she had never seen him wear those before, when he turned to her, swaying slightly again as he stood there.

"You have my sweatshirt?" he asked drunkenly, hiccupping once quietly as he blinked slowly at her from where he stood. Jayde stared at him in mild disbelief, hardly daring to believe that he was really about to leave and go somewhere when it was already so late and he was already so drunk. But a moment later, in an effort to not start an argument after such a great physical expression, she nodded and leaned to the side, reaching down to pull his gray, zip-up sweatshirt from the side of the bed where she had been keeping it for when she missed him the most. His hand was held out toward her, his fingers wiggling expectantly and she tossed it to him with a quiet, annoyed huff.

"Are you leaving?" she asked in what she liked to consider an innocent tone. From over by the door as he struggled to put on the flimsy, worn jacket, Joker shook his head.

"No," he answered. "Gonna smoke a cigarette and-…finish the 'Vette."

"But…" Jayde began, feeling immediately as though she should not say anything more, but she continued anyway. "It's almost one in the morning and…" _You're fucking wasted…_ she wanted to add, but Joker cut her off, finally managing to put the zipper together to slide it up.

"Go to sleep, Jayde." He instructed, but only before he abruptly left the room and shut the door behind him, leaving her alone, _yet again. _

A/N: I know, I know…Poor, Jayde…But it's always gotta get worse before it gets better right? Please leave a review to let me know what you thought! Expect the next chapter soon. –QoM


	8. Hook Line and Sinker

It seemed to Jayde like she had only been asleep for five minutes when the sound of the bathroom door slamming woke her with a surprisingly stern jolt. Her eyelids felt heavy, which gave strong indication that she had not been sleeping for very long, despite the slowly rising sun, just barely peeking over the roof of the house across the street. Rolling onto her back, her arm reached out to the space next to her, frowning slightly in surprise when the area felt warm, as though someone had just been laying there. But a moment later, a sound of a loud, gagging cough from the bathroom down the hall forced her to squeeze her eyes shut and roll onto her side…It seemed the Joker's recent drinking binge was not going unpunished.

For a few seconds, Jayde lay there, trying not to feel nauseas from the noises of sickness down the hall, wondering whether she ought to stay there and double her pillow to cover her ears, or if she should get up and go see if she could help him. Of course, his behavior the previous night, or very early that morning, had left her in the bed to sniffle herself to sleep, feeling used and rejected. But for some reason, listening to the Joker suffer in the other room was tugging hard on her heartstrings and making it impossible to fall back to sleep. So with a slight groan, she stood from the bed and stumbled to the doorway, out into the hall and over to the closed bathroom door.

It was silent in there for the time being, save for Joker's deep breathing but as he coughed and emptied the sickening contents of his stomach a second time, she reached out for the knob and turned, only for her heart to sink. Of course it was locked, which was not surprising, seeing how he most certainly did not seem like the type to want his back rubbed or his hair pulled back for him, but still, Jayde could not stop herself from reaching out to knock lightly against the wood. From inside, came a raspy groan.

"Oh, for fuck sake, Jayde…" he growled, his voice magnified and echoed slightly from the way he was apparently speaking into the bowl of the toilet. Regardless of his warning tone, Jayde continued.

"Are you alri-" she went to ask, only to jump slightly when Joker cut her off.

"Does it _sound _ like I'm alright?" he practically shouted, his voice more evil sounding and louder than usual. Again, Jayde felt that foreboding sense in the back of her mind, telling her to just walk away at that point, but she ignored it; she was getting rather good at doing this lately.

"Well, do you want some water?" she asked, the volume of her voice increasingly light, but once again, she jumped when Joker's shout reached her ears as loudly as if he had been standing right next to her.

"GO AWAY!"

So with her heart in her stomach, Jayde walked away, back into the bedroom where she threw herself down on her side with her back to the door. If he wanted to suffer alone, then she would let him. This philosophy was indicative of how the last week had gone and Jayde noticed this, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth upon wondering how Joker could be so incredibly mean to her, when all she did was bend over backwards to please and help him. A quick, cartoonish imagine flew into her mind's eye of herself, going in to give him a hug, only to receive a wad of spit to the face. The visual had been so vivid, Jayde nearly reached up to wipe her completely dry face but paused when the sound of the bathroom door opening down the hall forced her eyes open wide. She held her breath, bracing for him to come storming into the bedroom.

"Jayde," he called out instead from inside the bathroom, before he paused, waiting for an answer. When none came, she heard him sigh heavily before he called her name again. "Jayde, can you come here?" he then asked again, his tone lighter than the time before. Somewhat reluctantly, but with her heart leaping at the chance to help him, Jayde rose from the bed again, walking out into the hallway to the now half-open bathroom door. She turned the corner and stepped into the bathroom, trying hard to ignore the smell of stale liquor and bodily fluid when her eyes fell to Joker sitting on the tile floor across from the toilet, his back leaned against the outer wall of the bathtub. He looked up from where he sat and Jayde felt her heart melt into a puddle inside her at how terrible, sick and slightly pitiful he looked. It seemed he was about to go on to ask if she could sit there with him for a while, but she moved toward him instantly, saving him from having to swallow his pride when his stomach was already so upset.

The tile was as cold as ice on the back of her bare legs as she sat down in her pajama shorts just next to him, her back against the tub beside him. With her shoulder against his arm, she could feel that he was shaking slightly but was surprised to notice how somewhat neatly he had thrown up. Besides inside the toilet, there was no vomit anywhere else in the bathroom, including on _him _for that matter. Jayde considered it fortunate that neither of them would be forced to clean anything up…

Just next to her, Joker took a deep breath in through his nose as he lay down sideways to place his head lightly on her lap, exhaling with a groan as he brought his left hand up to lightly grip her knee. As bad as Jayde felt for him, she could not help but feel slightly elated that he had reconsidered his command to 'go away' and had seemingly decided it would make him feel better to have someone there with him. She was hesitant at first to reach out and touch him, seeing how it was already such a fragile situation, but he really was so pale and clammy, his relaxed fingers trembling slightly as they rested against her knee, so she allowed herself to reach out and comb some of the damp roots of his hair away from the left side of his face. He groaned at the contact but did not seem to dislike it as his eyes slid closed and another heavy sigh raised and lowered his side gently. A tiny smile begged Jayde to let it onto her face but she fought it, tightening her lips in case Joker looked up and mistook her expression for enjoying his misery.

"I'm sorry you feel bad," she told him consolingly, continuing her fingers tender movement of raking his hair away from his face as he shrugged against her leg.

"Me too," he grunted in reply but then rolled onto his back when he obviously felt as though laying on his side was a bit dangerous, considering how uneasy his stomach felt. His eyes opened for only a second to look up at Jayde as she tried hard not to grin down at him before they closed again. "It's my own damn fault, though…" he then added, slowly licking his lips.

Jayde wanted to agree with him, to remind him of how rough and somewhat rude he had been the night before, but there was every chance he did not even remember what had happened and was already feeling like shit. It was not her place to deepen that feeling. So she stayed quiet instead, and reached out to let her right hand pull his fading green hair out from under his head, to fan it across her other leg, smoothing out the deep waves, only to watch as they tightened up again when she moved her hand. Surprisingly, Joker seemed to be enjoying her gentle touch as he relaxed a bit more, his breathing evening out, so Jayde bravely took it a step further and reached out with her other hand, across his broad shoulders to the far one where she tightened her grip slightly across the tattoo there.

She had not expected him to respond, but this time, she could not stop herself from smiling when he brought one of his own hands up to lightly curl his fingers around her forearm as it lay across his chest, gripping her firmly yet gently. Some of the color appeared to be returning to his face, lessening the dark circles beneath his eyes and after pressing the palm of her hand to the cold tile beside her, she gently lay it across his forehead, hoping the chill from her skin would help soothe him. The sigh that escaped him a moment later stated quite plainly that her efforts were not in vain.

Jayde wanted to tell him she loved him. She wanted to state openly that she would be here to do this for him for the rest of his life and that nothing could ever keep her from wanting to be there for him, helping him, being his shoulder to lean on…or even cry on. But almost as though he had known what she was thinking, his grip tightened to pull her arm away from him quickly before he sat up and just barely made it to the toilet before he threw up again. It was amazing to Jayde how this did not necessarily disgust her and she flew into nurse mode as she rose from the tile, resting her hand on his back lightly.

"I'm going to get you some water," she explained quietly. "I'll be right back."

She returned only a minute later, holding a cool glass of ice-less water, only to sigh sympathetically when she found him sitting against the tub again, his knees up with his arms folded across them, his forehead rested on his forearm. It was a little ridiculous how his long legs looked, bent up and practically touching his chest, but Jayde did not laugh and instead sat down next to him again, facing him as she rested her hand on his upper arm. His eyebrows raised wearily as he brought his head up to look over at her.

"Drink some of this," she offered, holding out the glass of water to him, only to smile when he reached out for it and brought it to his lips, taking a small sip before he set it down on the other side of him. His gaze then shifted to focus blankly, exhaustedly on the tile beyond his knees and Jayde took the moment when he wasn't watching to note how dull and tired his brown eyes looked, even more so than usual lately. She reached out to touch his forearm and get his attention in the most gentle way possible.

"Joker," she said his name in a low quiet voice, once again forcing herself not to give into a smile when he looked over at the sound of his name. "Do you feel like you can get up and go lay down?"

He nodded and slowly brought one of his knees up to help push himself up from the tile. At first, Jayde wasn't sure if she should fit her hand beneath his arm to help him, so she waited and watched as he stood all the way up slowly, clearly taking his time so not to grow lightheaded. So she moved to the side to let him take a few shaky steps past her before he left the bathroom, leaving her to pick up his water and follow him as he trudged to the bedroom.

A long sigh left his chest as he lay down slowly, turning onto his side to face her side of the bed, shivering slightly as the cool material met his warm body. Jayde watched him, setting his water down on the nightstand behind him, before she hesitated, wondering whether or not he wanted her to stay. But as he lifted his head to glance over his shoulder at her, meeting her eyes, she took this as his silent request for her to lay down with him for a while, at least until he could fall asleep. So after crossing the room to close the blinds and darken the room to ease his pounding headache, she climbed onto the bed as gently as possible, crawling toward him until she could sit down against the pillows and headboard just next to where he lay.

When he remained motionless, Jayde began to feel slightly awkward, thinking she had possibly mistaken his look for wanting her to join him and was about to lay down fully to pretend like it had been her intention to go back to sleep the whole time. But as he let out a soft groan, lifting his head to reach out with one hand to the far side of her legs, he tightened his grip with his arm, pulling himself closer until he could rest his head on her lap once more, using her as a human pillow. He sighed again, his breath warm against her skin as he exhaled and Jayde smiled, reaching down to move his hair away from his face, just as before; if the Joker was going to use her, she wished this was the way he would do it from then on.

For quite some time, Jayde sat there, leaned against the pillows as Joker fell asleep, watching the side of his face and the usual scowling expression that had taken place there. Her eyes felt heavy with sleepiness, being that it was still so early in the morning and for a few minutes, she considered going back to sleep, even closed her eyes to do so. But as she began to drift off sitting perfectly upright with her head leaned back, she wondered if maybe she should just stay up at this point. It was already nearly eight, and she had a feeling that if she were to go back to sleep at this point, she could stay that way until at least eleven or twelve, which meant being up late that night…And seeing how Joker's mood seemed to worsen dramatically once the sun went down, the thought of being awake while he was at his worst did not sound appealing in the slightest. So with her stomach growling and her taste buds begging for a cup of coffee, she reached down to lightly stroke the side of Joker's hair. His eyes slid open groggily as he took a deep breath in through his nose, blinking several times as he lifted his head slightly.

"I'm going to go make some coffee," she told him as quietly as she could, sliding sideways until he could rest his head on the bed where she had just been sitting. He grunted a response, which Jayde took to mean 'ok'. "Let me know if you need anything."

So after closing the door gently behind her, she made off toward the kitchen, placing her hands over her rumbling stomach to try and muffle the sound. The fridge was right where she had left it and as she opened it to lean down and peer inside, a somewhat random, wistful sigh escaped her. A soft smile joined it a moment later when she thought back to how Joker had seemingly felt bad about shouting at her when she had offered her help. Either that, or he had realized that having someone else around, comforting him, no matter who it was, would be better than sitting in the bathroom feeling like death, alone. Jayde hoped it was the former of those two options.

With the coffee brewing and two pieces of bread in the oven to toast, Jayde stepped outside with her pack of cigarettes, thankful that they had somehow ended up on the table near the kitchen and were not still in the bedroom, where she would need to disturb Joker in order to get them. Outside on the front porch, Jayde sat down in the chair closest to the door, gazing out across the lawn to the street beyond it, unsurprised to find the neighborhood very quiet on that early Sunday morning. The inhabitants that lived around them did not really seem like the church-going type…A short snort of a laugh escaped her when she wondered how the Joker would react if she were ever to ask him if he would like to go to church. He would either laugh heartily at her or agree to go, then come up with some elaborate scheme to blow it up as they were on their way.

"_Oh, damn, I guess we can't go…"_

After finishing her cigarette and returning inside to her coffee and toast, Jayde sat down at the table, once again letting her eyes gaze over the etchings in the wood, now that the pain was not quite so raw for her. It was honestly a little surprising to her, given how much history and memory was carved into the table, that Joker could even stand to sit there, let alone walk past it and that he had not placed some sort of makeshift tablecloth over it yet. She supposed this was a good thing, however…as long as he wasn't pretending Tre's death never happened.

Several years ago, Jayde's parents, both criminal court judges, had been murdered in their house after her mother decided a guilty verdict on a silly gun charge for a very high-up executive. At the time, Jayde had been 19, just starting college and had been left with only two reminders of the night Thomas Reicher had broken into their house- a long scar down her side and a memory of his voice. And from their death, Jayde had been forced by her relatives to visit a grief counselor. She only attended one time.

Fortunately, the death of her parents had left her with a rather large sum of life insurance and inheritance money so after selling their house in Billings, Montana, Jayde packed everything she owned up into her dad's classic 1967 Stingray Corvette and hit the road to Gotham, followed closely by one small moving truck. To this day, she was not sure what had possessed her to move to that city in particular when New York was just as crowded and even Chicago bore a similar nature, but something about the rushed, loud, city-life made her feel as though it would be easier to get over the sudden death. Of course, now thinking of Joker, Jayde was immensely glad she had moved there and not chosen one of the other large cities.

But through her one session at grief counseling, Jayde had learned that there were five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and eventually acceptance…From what she had noticed, Joker seemed to be experiencing the first four all at the same time and in great volume. She was positive, at first, he had tried telling himself that there was no way Tre had actually just died and that any second he was going to come walking through the door. But he seemed too smart and logical to actually believe that and had clearly moved quite quickly to the 'anger' stage. This was where he had spent most of the past week, maybe occasionally bargaining with some higher entity, saying '_look, you can have Jayde, just give me Tre back'. _She grunted a laugh to herself as she imagined him actually thinking that.

The drinking and smoking and constantly working on the cars, Jayde knew to be methods of distraction, but she knew from personal experience that merely distracting oneself from the ultimate reality was simply prolonging the day when crushing truth would come pelting down on you. If Joker continued down this road, one of these days, he was going to break down and it would not be pretty…for _either _of them. Hopefully, she would survive his constant mood swings and terrible attitude until that day came.

The rest of the morning passed at a surprisingly pleasurable crawl, leaving Jayde to finish her coffee and have a half of a second cup, before she lounged around on the couch, watching the tv at a very low volume, floating in and out through the front door for a cigarette every now and then. The weather outside was absolutely perfect, which was somewhat surprising for Chicago she was guessing, and while the sun was warm and pleasant, the temperature had dropped several degrees over the previous night, leaving it cool but not cold, breezy but not windy. For this reason, she left the door open, while keeping the screen shut, allowing for a clean breeze to blow in sporadically.

From the way the bedroom had been completely silent beyond the door for the past several hours, Jayde felt safe in assuming that Joker was still sleeping soundly and was glad that he had not gotten up yet. And although it was good he was getting some much needed rest, she was still in her pajamas and would like to at least have gotten some real clothes on.

So with the idea that the water running through the pipes might 'accidentally' wake him up a little, Jayde journeyed into the bathroom for a shower, hoping that by the time she emerged, she would be able to go in the bedroom and dress without waking him into a fit of rage.

Being that she had showered twice the previous day, Jayde did not feel it necessary to wash her hair and instead skipped that step to shave her legs. They weren't _too _terribly hairy, but this did waste a bit more time before she would have to get out and go into the bedroom for a change of clothes. So after completing the necessary steps, a bit more slowly than she normally would have, Jayde stepped out and grabbed her towel from the rack before stepping out into the hall and over to the bedroom door.

From where she stood listening, the inside of the bedroom seemed quiet, but as she pushed open the door, she nearly jumped when she found Joker standing by the dresser, just pulling on a t-shirt with the pair of jeans he had already applied. At the sound of the door opening, he looked over but ignored her for the time being as she walked into the room, shivering slightly as the fan blew cool air over her damp skin and wet, dripping hair. From the somewhat awkward, strangely heavy energy in the room, Jayde got the distinct impression that Joker had not forgotten the events from earlier that morning and was clearly doing everything in his power to pretend like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. She glanced over her shoulder at him quickly as she opened the top drawer of 'her' dresser for a pair of clean underwear.

Joker stood with his back to her, using both of his hands to try and pull his messy hair back into a tiny bun and she let her eyes glance downward at his feet, where she found he was already wearing his favorite pair of purple, high top Chuck Taylors. At this, she could not help herself.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked, unable to keep a hint of premature disappointment out of her voice. When he did not turn to face her as he sighed in annoyance, Jayde felt her heart sink.

"It appears that way, _dear…"_ he answered scathingly, hoping his tone would deter any further inquiries. Without turning, he could practically hear Jayde's next question before she even asked it.

"Well, where are you going?" she went on to ask, just as he had predicted. He turned to face her, taking quick steps toward her until he could loom directly over her. Jayde's back met the dresser behind her as she retreated, knocking the wood against the wall behind it with a thud and a rattle from where the tv wobbled precariously. His gaze narrowed and bounced back and forth a few times between her wide eyes as she gaped up at him nervously.

"I don't really think that's any of your _business,_ do you?" he growled, then raised his eyebrows expectantly as she hesitated. A second later, she shook her head hastily.

"N-no…sorry…" she murmured, once again diminishing under his intimidation. Joker nodded in agreement, taking a step back from her to walk to the door, pulling his knife and keys from the top of his dresser as he went.

"I dunno when I'll be back," he then tossed over his shoulder, leaving the room abruptly to shut the door behind him with a snap. Jayde's nose wrinkled as she crumpled into tears, still clutching the edges of her towel against her chest…And she thought there had been a breakthrough made that morning…_How silly of me…_

Joker's back teeth ground together like a mortar and pestle as he pulled the Escalade from the driveway and out onto Lincoln avenue. How _dare _Jayde ask him like that where he was going? Had she not learned by then that there were certain things he liked to keep private?…like…_everything?_ Luckily, he had thought to take the keys to the Corvette with him, thus alleviating any possibility of her adding to her ever-increasing sense of stupidity and deciding to follow him. While a _very _deep down part of him wanted to feel bad for being so snappy to her after she had gone out of her way to help him earlier, he felt his actions were justified in pointing out that it really was _none _of her business where he was going or what he was doing. Honestly, _he _wasn't even really sure where he was going or what he was doing. But just the sensation of being hungover itself was enough to want himself out of the house and as far away from it as possible. 

For a Sunday, the very heart of the city was surprisingly busy, with people going here and there, sitting out at café's for lunch or…'brunch' or whatever it was those snobs called it. Joker watched a particular small family with several young children with extreme dislike as he sat at a red light, his teeth still grinding themselves down into a powder inside his mouth. It was helping his headache but was now making his jaw ache slightly, although he did not stop; the mix of pain was making him feel better, more alive than he'd felt in a while.

As a matter of fact, the last time he'd felt 'alive' was the night he had set up his decoy, the night he had blown up those dorms, the night Tre had made the dumbest, most idiotic decision of his life and most importantly, the night Joker had _let _him. He _hated _himself for it and although masochism was not normally his favorite form of punishment, the urge to slam his head repeatedly between the door of the Escalade and the metal frame was overwhelmingly great. Then again, his head was already splitting with that post-drunkenness headache, so he supposed the self-inflicted pain was already underway and was currently whooping his ass. With a cringe, he pulled down the sun visor to block the glare poisoning his sensitive eyes as the light turned green.

For the third time since Joker had left the house an hour ago, Jayde stepped out onto the front porch, forcefully ignoring the way the cool breeze chilled the wet trails on her cheeks as she lit another cigarette. She knew it was immensely foolish to still be sniffling and whimpering about his latest explosion of moodiness, but there was always something about the bite to his voice, something in the angry glare to his chocolate brown eyes that crumbled her to absolute tears and defeat.

_Maybe I should just get used to it…_she wondered idly, exhaling in a thin stream of smoke. Clearly, he was growing accustomed to bullying her around, keeping her with her proverbial tail between her legs so what was preventing her from letting herself get used to it? Granted, it had only been a little over a week since Tre's death but still, Jayde couldn't help but feel like this period of mourning was taking an extraordinary toll on the Joker. It was obvious he had never undergone a tragedy of this magnitude and had no idea how to handle it, but Jayde was not about to offer any more support or advice at this point. If he wanted to suffer and squander in pain, then like she had decided that morning, she would let him. Of course, there was every chance Joker would return later that night and walk right in to kiss her, but Jayde was determined to hold her ground this time. She was done playing his back and forth, up and down game…_especially_ if the downs were going to be so much more prevalent than the ups.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly, as usual, and before Jayde knew it, she had smoked the rest of her half-pack of cigarettes down to just one. Her sour mood did not allow her attention to be held by the shows on tv for more than a few minutes at a time but after napping for only an hour, she forced herself out of the bed to go make something for dinner when she realized the time had already reached six o'clock.

It came as no surprise that Joker had not returned yet but Jayde pushed her slight feeling of worry to the very back corner of her mind, forcing herself to decide that she didn't care where he went or what he was doing. She even caught herself lying openly about the fact that she wished he would not return. If the Joker did not come back, she would be _fucked…_although, she did now know where he kept a rather hefty sum of money…but it was more than likely he had already moved it into another hidden location…Jayde was smart…but the Joker was smarter.

Finally, night fell over Chicago and blanketed the corner of Lincoln and Platt in a deep, inky blackness, leaving Jayde to sit outside to try and enjoy her last, post-dinner cigarette. Again, her mind begged her to let it wonder where he was or what he was doing but she forced it back, focusing her mind elsewhere in the form of one vibrating cell phone in her lap. Her heart leapt, stupidly thinking it was the Joker but as she looked down to find it was Dotcom, she sighed, tilting her head to the side, contemplating on whether or not to answer it. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, she just didn't want to sound annoyed and in turn have him ask what was wrong, then have to sit there and either lie to him or explain everything that had happened over the past several days. But then again, she _could _keep her voice light and happy sounding, force herself to smile as she talked…Maybe Dotcom would not be able to sense the underlying sadness and irritation…

"Hello?"

"What's wrong?" Dotcom immediately asked in a level tone.

Jayde rolled her eyes, shaking her head at her instantly failed attempt to sound cheerful and the way her best friend could see straight through her, even when they were over five-hundred miles apart. With a heavy sigh, Jayde rested her forehead against the heel of her hand on the armrest of the chair, scratching at a spot on her hairline with the middle finger of the hand holding her cigarette.

"Joker's just been in the worst moods. I thought it was bad for the first few days, but _this _is just…" she started but then paused, hoping this answer would suffice and that he would just move on.

"What's been happening? What's he been doing?" he went on to ask, leaving Jayde to roll her eyes.

"Oh, you know…just…"

And from there, she launched into a detailed explanation of everything that had happened over the past few days, venting heatedly to Dotcom about how he had been switching back and forth between moods, about how he had been using her like some rag doll, simply fucking her then leaving, about how in order to show her any sort of affection, he seemed to either need to be incredibly stoned or practically fall-down drunk. Her tirade went on for several minutes into a completely silent phone as Dotcom listened patiently.

"-and now he's out doing god-knows-what and I'm here stuck at this fucking house like some god damn prisoner!" she eventually finished, tossing both hands as her irritation brought her to more tears, which spilled down her cheeks before she could move to stop them. A deep breath moved her chest as she filled her lungs with more oxygen after ranting and raving without pausing for the past five minutes. On the other end of the phone, Dotcom inhaled through his nose before he exhaled heavily and Jayde could just see him rubbing his eyes with two fingers behind his glasses.

"Jayde, I don't know what to tell you, sweetheart." He admitted, once again reminding her of how much she loved that about him; how he never sugar-coated things to make her feel better. Dotcom was truly the most honest person she had ever met. "Maybe he needs to be alone for a while. Maybe you need to just up and leave, to make him realize what he's missing. It's obvious he's taking his 'grief' out on you and that's not fair to you, honey. Especially when all you've done is be there for him."

"Exactly!" Jayde agreed in an exclamation, but then paused, her eyes falling to the last centimeter of remaining tobacco in her cigarette. "But I can't just…leave him." she went on, shaking her head. "I kinda…promised I would stay here and help him…I mean, I never _said _that to him but…I promised myself which…is just as important to me."

Again, Dotcom sighed.

"I understand that, sweetie…Just know, if you ever change your mind, you're welcome to come stay with me as long as you want. I just got my own two bedroom near the Village."

So after assuring him that she would let him know if anything changed, although secretly, she doubted it would, they hung up and Jayde pushed the butt of her cigarette down into the tray before going inside. Maybe if she went to sleep now, her brain would stop pestering her about wondering where he was.

Fifteen minutes and ten miles away, with the Escalade now parked safely behind a convenience store, the Joker slinked down back alleys, appearing only for moments at a time to walk ten feet to the next one, hoping his prey would make this more than easy for him. He was feeling somewhat dehydrated and groggy but since his headache was now gone, he felt the need to continue. One of the busiest streets in Chicago was surprisingly dead that evening, setting the perfect backdrop for him to do a little hunting.

Miraculously, his long black coat and black gloves had been in the back seats of the Escalade, almost as if fate had known he would be needing them, and after applying both, he had gotten out, taking his birthday knife and small handgun with him. Of course, he wasn't sure if he would end up needing to use them but having them at his immediate disposal never hurt anything…well, it might hurt a _little_…

So after locating his usual, favorite place to haunt, the Joker began ambling, keeping his keen eyes and sharp ears focused on the ambient noises and sights jaround him. He had stumbled upon several homeless people so far, but hobo's had never been any fun to him. They typically had nothing to lose and did not see a point in putting up much of a struggle…that, and they did not usually have much of a family to mourn them. If anything, he considered killing a homeless person as somewhat doing a favor to the city…cleaning up the streets as it were…No, if he was going to kill tonight, it would be someone with much more to lose.

The breeze that night had gained intensity and was now fairly cold, whipping the loose hair from his chaotic ponytail across his face, begging the question of why it was still tied back in the first place. A good amount of hair had come lose from the side and now hung lamely beside his face when the wind was still so after tugging out the tie, he shook his head, flinging the rest of the waves into a mess. A few strands stuck to the brick wall behind him, plucking at his scalp somewhat painfully and he was just about to cringe when the sound of loud voices reached his ears from beyond the mouth of the alley. He felt the hair on the back of his neck and all along his arms standing up as he tuned in to listen.

"-I don't know _how _they thought that would be a good ending! It totally contradicted the plot!" a younger man was saying loudly. Joker rolled his eyes. A girl was agreeing with him.

"Right? It was like the ending to a completely different movie! Two thumbs down for me…" she said somewhat solemnly and Joker felt his stomach clench up. _Target identified…_The young man was obviously trying to be chivalrous.

"Can I walk you home? It's getting kinda late and-…" he offered but Joker could practically hear the girl shaking her head airily with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Oh, no. It's so close. I'm only a few blocks down. I'll be fine. Thanks though!"

There was a pause in the conversation where Joker was assuming the girl was hugging her friend goodbye, when he was positive the young man had been hoping for something more…Why else would he offer to walk her home? The voices picked up again.

"Alright, bye, Sarah. Text me when you get home so I know you're still alive," the young man said with a joking laugh, followed shortly by another laugh from 'Sarah'.

"Ok, bye, Charlie!"

Joker's back made full contact with the brick wall behind him, pressing himself against it to stay within the shadows as the young woman walked past briskly, her hands tucked into the front pockets of her zip-up sweatshirt, her shoulders slightly hunched against the wind. From just the brief couple of seconds he had seen her, Joker had noticed a long, dark, curly ponytail trailing behind her along her back. He hated himself for being reminded of the first night he had followed Jayde home…

He waited for only a second, glancing down the other way of the street to see where 'Charlie' had gotten to, and once he spotted who he assumed was the young man climbing into a taxi, he turned the other way and tucked his gloved hands down into the pockets of his coat, using his thumb to flip open the blade of his knife inside the material as he went. Luckily, he had trained himself over the years to walk quietly, leaving Sarah to have absolutely no idea someone was following her. The distant noises of the city helped mask this as well, leaving his footfall to be nearly silent as he walked after her, lovingly stroking the back of his sharp knife inside his pocket. His pace increased when he noticed the girl about to step out into a side street, to cross to the other side, pausing to check her phone as she walked, slowing her down just enough for Joker to gain even more ground until he could have taken several large steps and been close enough to grab her ponytail. An alley was approaching on the left of them, and Joker took only a half second to glance behind him to find the street blissfully empty before he cleared his throat.

"Hey," he said quickly, his voice gruff but almost friendly sounding as he closed in and wrapped his heavy hand around the girl's face, muffling her scream into near inaudibility with help from his leather glove. His strong left arm wrapped around her waist, tugging her to the side until he could push her into the alley, so quickly, it must have looked as though they had disappeared into thin air. Sarah was struggling with all her might within his grasp but as Joker shoved her hard into the brick wall, almost clear at the end of the alley, she stopped suddenly, but continued to scream and whimper against his hand. He leaned down slightly, raising his eyebrows to gaze deep into her round, light-colored, panicked eyes. His stomach clenched up; she looked exactly like Jayde. Pushing himself through, he tightened his grip on her face and waist, pulling her body closer to his.

"Scream, and I'll kill you, _right. now." _He growled, his voice as low and quiet as he could make it, his eyes bouncing back and forth between hers. Normally, he would try to make some sort of game out of this, but he was tired and was not in the mood for playing with his prey. _Apparently, _Sarah was not in the mood for being played with either. He watched her take in the vague sight of his scars in the darkness before he noticed big, watery tears well up along her lower eyelid when her eyes caught the glint of his shiny blade as he held it up in her face. "_Got it?"_ his voice was suddenly light and clowny, bouncy as though speaking to a child. His eyebrows raised again and he copied Sarah by nodding along with her.

The girl took a sharp gasp of a breath in through her mouth when he removed his hand, surprised to find how delightfully plump her lips were…just like Jayde's…She did not scream, as she agreed not to and instead trembled from head to toe as those tears slid down her cheeks. Joker ignored this and instead let the very tip of his knife tap the zipper on her hoodie sweatshirt, sliding it down in short increments, revealing gradually the fact that she was not wearing a shirt beneath it and instead wore a bright, lime green bra. A gold, cross necklace lay several inches above the subtle cleavage the undergarment created.

"So tell me, Sarah…" he started, tilting his head to the side to bite down on the inside of his right scar, squinting at the charm as he lifted it away from her chest with the knife. "Why would such a _lovely_ young lady, _like yourself, _refuse a walk home from a handsome young gentleman like Charlie, hm?" he went on to ask, bringing his gaze up to her eyes that were now practically popping out of her head.

It seemed panic was rendering her unable to speak which Joker understood but did not necessarily enjoy; he liked his prey to have a voice. So he shook her slightly, parting his legs a bit further to be more at her level, sliding his hand into the back of her jeans, pleased when he found her to be wearing a stringy, T-back thong.

"I-I don't kn-know…" she practically whimpered, now shaking so hard, her words came out in short bursts. "Please let me go." She then added in a moment of lucidity.

"Ohhh…No, no, no…"he growled, swaying slightly as he traced his pointer finger along her folds from behind her, his hand tucked into her jeans between her ass and the wall. "See, you have something I want, darling."

_You're gonna end up doin' something you'll regret, I promise you that, Ki._

The voice from the past flew into his mind with such force, Joker's breath hitched in his throat, the clarity and volume of the words as if Tre were standing right behind him. He ignored it forcefully and cleared his throat to shake it off as he tugged the girl's hips toward his, reaching down to unbutton her jeans. At that point, Sarah trembled so hard, her knees went weak and she buckled slightly, openly crying at this point as her hands reached out to clutch the edges of his coat.

"No, _please, _stop," she cried softly, whimpering as Joker growled, reaching out to grab her shoulders and bring her back up into a standing position where he kicked her feet apart and turned her to face the wall.

_Joker, no, __**please **__stop…_

Another voice from the past caught him off guard, this time thwarting the growing erection his rage was building beneath the line of his jeans, which only made him more angry when he realized this echoing voice had been Jayde's. Sarah was now sobbing with the side of her face against the brick as Joker held his knife against her soft neck, his breathing ragged as he focused down at what he was doing.

You swore you would never do that to a female again, Ki…

"FUCK." Joker finally barked, reaching out to grab the back of Sarah's sweatshirt where he threw her to the ground beside him, ignoring her cry as she landed on her side and immediately moved to her knees to try and crawl away from him. With a growl, Joker went after her, dropping to his own knees to flip her onto her back where he wasted no time in drawing his blade across the front of her neck, digging in so deep, he could feel the resistance from her windpipe as she choked and gurgled, her eyes wide as her shoulders lurched off the trashed, dirty concrete. His hands shook noticeably with rage as he watched her stare up at him, taking pleasure in watching the life drain rapidly from her eyes. An electric, evil, pulsating sensation flowed through him from his head to his toes as he then reached out to place the bloody blade of his knife against the corner of her pretty mouth, applying pressure until the skin began to split and he kept going until he reached her jaw, nearly at her ear. And after doing the same to the other side, he stood up, wiping the blood from the knife on the inside of his coat before folding down the blade to put it back in his pocket. And with Sarah's lifeless, mutilated body laying in the alley behind him, he stepped out briskly into the street, tucking his bloodied gloves into his coat pockets to walk along, beating the path back to the Escalade without so much as a glance over his shoulder.

The house was silent and dark as he stepped inside, immediately shedding his coat and gloves at the kitchen table but paused to grab his knife from inside the pocket, flipping it back open as he walked silently, but quickly over to the bedroom door. He had been debating with himself on this the entire ride home and had finally made up his mind as he pulled into the driveway; if he was going to do this, it had to be done quickly and efficiently, before he had time to change his mind. The bedroom door made no noise as it swung open, revealing a dark bedroom and a small sleeping form on the far side of the bed.

His breathing was deep and ragged as he crossed the room, shifting the knife from his right hand to his dominant left. His eyes fell onto Jayde's sleeping figure as he rounded the bed, asleep and breathing deeply as she lay on her back, her arm up and rested lightly across her rising and falling stomach. Her hair had been let down at some point and was now splayed delicately along her pillow and onto the bed beside her, some of the curls trailing over her shoulder, looking beautiful as if she had known he would be standing there, deciding to kill her. Joker shook his head as he hesitated, taking a deep breath to release it in a rough exhale, once again shifting the knife as his weight moved from one foot to the other.

It had been so impossibly easy to kill the girl in the alley, just fifteen minutes prior, but as he stood there, contemplating the look he would find in Jayde's eyes when she woke with a start to find him leaning over her with the knife she had given him halfway through her neck, Joker staggered backwards, blinking hard several times as though waking from a trance. He was breathing more heavily than he could remember and felt slightly nauseas as he stood up straight, squaring his shoulders as he stared down at her.

"_If you were really capable of being as heartless as you seem, you would have no problem dumping this chick's body in a lake somewhere…She's got you, bro…Hook, line, sinker."_

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A/N- SOOOOOO sorry about the wait! I adopted a seven month old Dalmatian pup named Charlie and he is a handful. But I just had him neutered yesterday so he's nice and doped up, which gives me time to write. Haha There are pictures of him on my facebook if you'd like to see, not to mention some SUPER sexy new pictures of Mister Heath as the Joker on there as well. So search for 'Haven QueenofMean Hunter' and I should come up. Just please include the password 'Kieron' so I know you're someone from FF. THANKS! AND LEAVE ME A REVIEW OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES….just kidding….but seriously…do it. -QoM


	9. Guilty Conscience

Joker looked up from the front end of the Corvette as the garage door swung open, revealing a sleepy-eyed, but seemingly pleasant Jayde, halfway through a yawn that stretched the vague, thin scar on her cheek slightly. She smiled when she noticed him but he looked away, back down to the engine of the car before him as she stepped down the stairs to cross the cold concrete toward him in her bare feet. He forced himself to keep his eyes on the car and not let them drift upward to the perky, morning nipples her thin, long-sleeved shirt was failing to hide.

A solid week had passed since the night he had decided to kill her, each day as dull, annoying and pointless as the one before it…_Clearly, _he had changed his mind, as she was standing there next to him, alive as ever, but once or twice over the past seven days, he had found himself mildly regretting his change of heart. It seemed she was completely oblivious to what had nearly happened that night and for this, Joker was partly thankful and yet somewhat disappointed that she had not woken to find him standing over her with a bloody knife…may have scared her away…

But no, she had woken the next morning and come right out to wrap her arms around his neck from behind, kissing him soundly on the cheek as he read the newspaper, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. This left Joker with a bitter, _almost _guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach when he imagined how differently her reaction would have played out had she woken up.

The weather had grown surprisingly chill over the past week and the fall rains had moved in, leaving Chicago soggy and living up to it's name as the 'Windy City'. Joker did not mind this, however. He had grown accustomed to this sort of climate and instead felt it matched his mood more accurately than the sunny, pretty weather had. On the other hand, Jayde did not seem to enjoy the rain, as she made that perfectly clear with the way she slumped her shoulders and sighed disappointedly when she woke to find it pouring down outside.

The discovery of Sarah's body in the alley a week ago had sparked a great amount of controversy from the media, reporting that the police were working to uncover more evidence, and that they were surprised there was not more to work with…besides the jagged cuts on either side of her mouth. One reporter had even gone so far as to say that the details of this murder very nearly matched the details of countless murders in Gotham by none other than the infamous Joker. Of course, he had said that this was merely speculation and until more details could be put together, it would remain a mystery as to whether or not the 'psychotic' killer from Gotham had moved on to another city. This was _exactly _what had happened and it gave him great pleasure in knowing he had already started making an impact, even after only two weeks back in his hometown. Jayde remained oblivious to this, however, as Joker had gone out of his way to make sure the news was turned off whenever she was around.

Being that he had been _this _close to ending her life, he felt the need to distance himself from her even further and had started making a point of it to only go to bed once she was already asleep and to wake up and leave the room before she woke. Jayde had seemingly taken this strategy as an invitation to try and get as close to him as possible during the day…at least until he openly barked at her to leave him alone. She had retreated to the bedroom like a scolded puppy and stayed in there for most of the remainder of the day.

Now in the present, Jayde looked up at him, clearly doing everything in her power not to flat out stare at him as he fiddled randomly with a few gears inside the brain of the car, trying to make it look as though he was really busy. A moment later, he heard her clear her throat so he looked over with just his eyes, peering up at her from around his arm as he leaned on it against the frame of the car.

"Can I uh-…_help _you with something?" he asked nastily, once again hoping his tone would act as Jayde-repellent. This time, she held her ground, lifting her chin as her hands met her hips obstinately.

"Do you really have to be such a jerk this early in the morning?" she asked in response, tilting her head to the side to glare up at him as he rose slowly to his full height to stare down at her. It was somewhat surprising that she did not cower beneath him this time and instead waited for a response of some kind…which Joker did not have at the moment. He shook his head, leaning back down over the car.

"What do you want, _darling?"_ he asked in an highly falsely pleasant voice, adding the pet name at the end as if that would even out the rude wording of his question. Beside him, Jayde sighed.

"I wanted to know if I could go get coffee," she answered. "There's not much left inside and-…"

_God, YES, _he thought immediately but held this back to merely nod his head.

"Fine, but this one blew a fuse last night so you can't drive it yet," he explained, standing up to point at the engine with his thumb before he glanced over at the Escalade in the driveway. "And I need that one so I'll have to drop you off and pick you up." At this, Jayde's gaze dropped to the collar of his shirt as her mouth opened.

"…Oh…" she muttered, suddenly wondering if saying 'nevermind, I don't wanna go' would spark some suspicion from him. She was supposed to be meeting Charlie…He had called her only a few minutes prior to ask if she wanted to meet him at Martin's coffee shop again to talk and hang out for a while. But now that the circumstances stood they way they did, Jayde wondered if it would be putting a target on her new friend's back to have her assassin of a boyfriend drive up to find her chatting with some strange guy. Although, like she had figured, going back and saying she didn't want to go would only make him suspicious and start asking questions. So she shrugged with a nod.

"Alright, that's fine."

While Joker showered, Jayde changed her clothes and packed her purse with a new pack of cigarettes that somehow, he had found it in his heart to bring home the night before. She had sent a text to Charlie once Joker had gone in the bathroom saying she would be on her way shortly and had gone on to tell him not to reply, with the hopes that he would not ask why. Fortunately, her phone did not go off again.

With Joker now dressed, she followed him out to the Escalade, trying hard to ignore the vague outline of one of his guns tucked into the back of his jeans, held there by his belt and covered by his shirt. As he climbed into the driver's seat, Jayde watched from the passenger side beside him as he removed the gun to tuck it down between the leather and the tan plastic of the center console on his right. For a moment or two, she considered asking him why he felt the need to bring it along, but after remembering quickly how many times over the past week he had warned her to mind her own business, she kept her mouth shut and resigned herself to silence, watching quietly through the window as they pulled away from the house.

It was fortunate the drive from the corner of Lincoln and Platt to Martin's coffee shop was so short, as the silence in the car was overwhelmingly tense and rather awkward, reminding Jayde once again of how much she wished he would have just let her take the SUV out alone. Joker seemed to be brooding with great intensity, gnawing on the inside of his scar as his knee bounced hard enough to punch a hole in the floor of the Escalade. Jayde wondered wildly to herself what he was thinking about and if it had anything to do with the reason he had brought the gun. It was more than definite he had added several knives to his current arsenal, each hidden in a strategic place about his person. She was just about to picture the small knife he probably had tucked into one of his brightly colored, mismatched socks when the clearing of Joker's throat broke the concentrated silence.

"So where's this place?" he asked, his tone flat, his eyes bored and disinterested, in turn, causing Jayde to roll her eyes as she turned her head toward the window. Perhaps she _should _let him see her talking to Charlie…

"Up here on the right," she answered, pointing through the window to the outside patio of the coffee shop, jutting out onto the sidewalk with it's wrought iron fencing and small gate. Joker remained quiet but slowed the Escalade as he pulled off the main street and parallel parked behind a small sedan. "Thanks…" she murmured and reached for the handle of the door, not even pausing to think of wasting time by leaning over to kiss his cheek. But as he spoke, she hesitated before opening it, her eyes falling onto Charlie's side-profile, seated at a table outside near the window.

"I'll be back here in an hour, understand?" he asked sharply, his eyebrow arching as he looked over at her from the steering wheel, switching his hands to lean on his elbow against the door. And once Jayde had nodded her reply, he looked back to the street without another word, shifting the gear back into 'drive', silently signaling to her that he was ready for her to get out now. Honestly, Jayde had been hoping for a goodbye or even a 'don't do anything stupid', but nearly laughed when she realized how foolish even wishing for that had been. At least she had a full sixty minutes of talking and laughing with Charlie to look forward to.

As she approached the front patio of the coffee shop, she kept her ears open for noises of the Escalade pulling away, glancing over her shoulder to make sure he was gone before she smiled and waved as Charlie looked up. He gave a weak, somewhat halfhearted grin in return, leaving Jayde to frown slightly as she walked up to the table.

"Hey," she said lightly, but then paused as she noticed the faint, grayish circles around his eyes behind his black, rectangular-framed glasses. "What's wrong?" she went on to ask, but then recoiled slightly almost out of habit. "I mean-…"

Charlie seemed to notice her attempt at backpedaling and smiled a bit more warmly, pushing a mug of coffee toward her. "It's cool," he assured her with a shrug. "I um-…lost a good friend last week. I guess you could say I'm still a little torn up." He explained with a sheepish laugh. Jayde's eyebrows arched in a highly sympathetic expression; _finally, _someone that could openly talk about their emotions.

"I'm so sorry," she offered, reaching out to wrap both of her chilled hands around the warm ceramic of the mug before taking a sip. "Um-…what happened? I mean, if you don't wanna talk about it that's-…" Again, she backtracked but Charlie shook his head, taking a sip of his own coffee.

"No, it's alright. I kinda _wanted _ to talk about it…kinda why I asked if you wanted to meet me…" he admitted awkwardly, fidgeting with the edge of the newspaper in front of him. "My friend Sarah was murdered about…a week ago now." He then stated, clearing his throat. "And I think I might have been the last person to see her alive…besides…whoever did that…to her…"

A moment of stunned silence descended before Jayde came back. "Oh my god, Charlie…I'm so sorry." She told him genuinely, making sure to keep eye contact with him so he would know she was being sincere. "Do they have any…you know, leads or…any idea who did it?" She went on to ask, hoping this wasn't taking the conversation too far. But again, Charlie shrugged, reaching out to take a cigarette from her as she offered him one. He lit it and inhaled deeply before he took his glasses off and shook his head.

"That's the thing," he started, rubbing his eyes wearily. "The cops keep saying there's no evidence but that seems unlikely to me. I mean, _no one _is slick enough to murder someone and leave absolutely no trace, right?" he asked, raising a hand as Jayde nodded in only partial agreement. _Almost _no one… Charlie was continuing. "The only thing they have to go on is that her…" he paused, clearing his throat as though this was particularly difficult to talk about. "-her throat was cut and her face was…carved into some…smile or something.

Jayde felt her heart stop and her insides freeze. Charlie went on.

"-And people have been saying that that one guy from Gotham, the Joker, is in Chicago now." He finally ended, looking over at her. Jayde kept her mouth shut, but let her eyes widen dramatically, hoping to appear surprised and worried at this bit of information. Honestly, she had no idea what to say that would sound convincing but luckily or unluckily, seemingly for the first time since meeting her, Charlie's gaze fell onto the long, thin scar on the left side of her mouth, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"I um…never noticed but…you have a scar a lot like…well…the pictures I've found online…It looks kind of like…_his…_" he stammered his way through this as though hesitant to mention it, but his tone was not one of accusation or suspicion, merely curiosity. Jayde's gaze fell to her mug of coffee as her heart began to race. What was she supposed to say? Would it be best to go the most extreme route possible?

"Yeah…" she started, clearing her throat uncomfortably. "I um-…moved away from Gotham because…I ran into him…one night." While the total reasoning behind her statement had been a lie, the 'running into him' bit had been completely true. She continued when Charlie's eyebrows began to raise. "He…did this to me. But I got away before he could do the other side…" She _hated _lying about her scar, blaming it on the one person who had actually saved her from having her face completely mutilated. No matter how angry he made her or how horribly he had been treating her, Jayde could never thank him enough for what he had done that night. Across from her, Charlie was shaking his head.

"Do you think he followed you here?" he asked, tapping a bit of ash from the end of his cigarette before he looked back to her, his eyes wide. Jayde's gaze once again fell to the table.

_No, I followed __**him **__here…_

"I don't think so," she answered, shaking her head. "There's no way he could know where I went. He didn't even know where I lived in Gotham. He just…chose me at random." Again…all lies, until the end. Charlie nodded, looking down to twirl the lit end of his cigarette in the plastic ash try between them before he looked back up, smiling vaguely as he tried to change the subject to something more light.

"So was that your boyfriend that dropped you off?" he asked, smirking when a grin crossed her features. _Was _it her boyfriend?

"Yeah, he needed the car. He said he'd be back in an hour." She explained with a shrug.

"Oh," Charlie replied with a nod, before one of his dark eyebrows arched sharply above the top rim of his glasses. "Is he gonna be mad when he sees you talking to me?" he went on to ask, laughing slightly. Jayde shook her head dismissively.

"No."

_Probably._

Unfortunately, those sixty minutes ticked by at an alarmingly fast rate, and before Jayde had even reached the last dregs of her now cold coffee, the Escalade was pulling back up into the same parking spot as before, slowing to a halt. Charlie looked over when she noticed it but frowned slightly when Jayde practically jumped up out of her chair, tucking her cigarettes and lighter back into her purse before swinging it onto her arm.

"Do you want me to meet him? Just so he knows-…" he began to offer but his frown deepened when Jayde shook her head quickly.

"No…No, we have to go," she said hastily, but paused when she realized how rushed and nearly frantic she had just sounded. She swallowed, taking her time. "I'm sure you'll meet him another time. He just told me we had to go as soon as he got-…"

Jayde would have continued but both she and Charlie jumped when the loud, blaring sound of the Escalade's horn sounded from the curb and did not stop. Charlie's frown deepened yet again as he looked over at the SUV, clearly trying to see in through the windows.

"I'm buying the coffee next time," she said quickly over the sound of the horn, smiling warmly at him before she trotted away. "Bye!"

"Bye?"

As Jayde opened the door to the Escalade, Joker finally took his hand off the horn, not even bothering to look over as she got in, making sure to keep the door open only wide enough to climb in, in case Charlie was trying to get a glimpse of her 'boyfriend'. A heavy, slightly relieved sigh heaved her chest as she put on the seatbelt and Joker pulled the Escalade away from the curb. Quickly, she glanced over at him, to take a quick look at his expression to get an update on how foul his mood was at the moment. From the way his eyebrows were furrowed in that deep, characteristic scowl and the way his knee was no longer bouncing, Jayde deciphered that he was in a right shitty mood and kept her mouth firmly shut…at least, until he broke the silence.

"Who were you talking to." He asked, although the inflexion in his voice indicated no question. Jayde felt her stomach turn over but she rolled her eyes as she looked out the window, watching the buildings pass on the right.

"I had a great time, thanks." She snapped sarcastically before she could stop herself but jumped when Joker suddenly reached over, pushing his pointer finger painfully into the side of her neck.

"_That's _not what I asked you," he snarled, no longer looking at the street, but instead had his eyes now focused on hers, his expression murderous. "_Who. Was. That." _ He repeated himself sternly. Jayde whimpered, reaching up to pull his hand away from her neck and the bruise he was undoubtedly forming beneath the tip of his finger.

"Just some guy that asked me for a cigarette," she lied convincingly. "He was nice so we were just talking, honest." Joker removed his finger finally, his attention back on the road as he turned the SUV left onto a narrow one-way street.

"What's his name?" he went on to ask, his tone flat once again. Jayde shook her head, bringing her hand up to rub the now sore spot against her throat. She swallowed twice before she answered.

"I don't know, I didn't ask him," she lied to the Joker _again. _"He just asked me for a cigarette so I gave him one." It was only out of pure _luck _that Charlie had been smoking another cigarette when Joker had returned and Jayde took a moment to thank whatever higher power existed for that stroke of good fortune. Joker remained silent so Jayde took this to mean that he had bought her story but as she looked away back to the window, she couldn't help but tighten her lips to keep from grinning. Was that his way of being a protective boyfriend? Had he maybe felt a little jealousy at driving up to find his woman talking to another man?

With that horrible, aching silence now lingering in the car yet again, Jayde watched idly through the windows as the surroundings slid past, finding it utterly amazing how quickly her good mood from the coffee shop had dissipated, almost as soon as she had gotten in the car. Joker's energy usually had a powerful affect on her, which made matters nearly unbearable when he was in such a horrible mood…which was around ninety-seven percent of the time these days.

As the Escalade took another right, in the complete opposite direction from the house, Jayde's eyebrows began to furrow and she glanced over to where Joker was still scowling through the windshield. His knee was bouncing out of control again, which she took to mean that they were not yet returning to the house, so she spared Joker the question and herself the sharp reply by keeping her mouth shut. Clearly, she would be finding out soon where they were going.

In a surprisingly short amount of time, Joker had taken the SUV from the upper class, business district into the more seedy part of town, where the buildings changed drastically from tall and sparkling with reflective, glass windows, to run down, practically crumbling at the edges, with broken windows and dead vines spilling from the cracks in the walls. Jayde was reminded vividly of the Narrows back in Gotham and all the shady business she had seen Joker conduct within the district, which left her to wonder if that was the purpose of this particular trip. Now that she thought of it, the manila envelope resting between the seat and the tan center console was probably _not _formal papers of any kind…

After only fifteen minutes from leaving the front of the coffee shop, Joker was pulling the Escalade off the main street and into a very narrow alley, where it seemed unlikely they would be getting out, as the SUV was so wide and the walls so close. But almost as soon as Jayde had noticed this, her eyes fell onto a police cruiser parked a couple of yards in front of them, it's driver and policeman already out and leaned casually against the hood of his car. Her heart skipped a few beats, but seeing how Joker was not reacting strongly in any way, she figured there was no reason to be alarmed. It was obvious they had already arranged to meet there when the policeman gave a short wave of his hand as the Escalade drew closer. The two cars created barriers on either side of the alley, blocking off the ends so Joker could park and get out without any fear of being noticed. Jayde thought this was rather clever of them but was already focusing on trying to read lips through the windshield as Joker approached the police officer with the envelope. The man took it from him, tucking it inside his black windbreaker without bothering to count it, before he glanced over his shoulder.

"A'right, I got ya the directory," Officer Parker said, his accent thick and full of Chicago as he handed over a rather thick, laminated notebook. "It's got the car numbers, names and badge numbers. The back page is detectives and specialty officers, K-9 units and that kinda shit…" His eyebrows arched as he watched the Joker's scarred complexion, scowling down as he flipped quickly through the book. "Uh-…Anything else you can trouble me for?" At this, Joker looked up, raising his eyebrows.

"Actually, yes." He answered curtly, his voice higher pitched and somewhat clowny. "Since I've paid you so…_generously,_I expect your full support and services whenever I need it." Here, he paused, his tone dropping a full octave when he noticed the expression on Parker's face shift to show a note of concern. "See, I don't just go around throwing money at people, officer. Since you're smart enough to break a few rules in order to make a little money on the side, you've automatically volunteered yourself onto my team." He went onto explain, baring his teeth in a very nasty, snide grin. Officer Parker took a precautionary half-step back before he responded.

"And…if I don't take you up on your offer?" he asked, arching an eyebrow but practically cowered as the Joker closed the gap between them, his teeth gritting, his dark eyes bouncing back and forth between the policeman's hazel ones.

"Oh, it's not an _offer, _Chris," he growled. A second later, his clowny demeanor was back and he raised his eyebrows together as he shrugged his shoulders, tossing his hands slightly. "_But _if you _do _decide you don't want to participate…then _realistically_, your _wife_, Lindsey…your _son_, Jeffrey and your _daughter, _Caitlin, will all _die_…And you'll. get. to watch." He then finished rhythmically, cocking his head to the side to bounce his eyebrows twice. "Are we clear?" His tone had once again switched into what could nearly be mistaken for pleasant, but when Chris Parker did not reply, his eyebrows fell immediately and he left him one last threatening glare before he turned. "Good. Expect a call within the next few days."

As Joker got back into the car, Jayde had just been about to make a very stupid decision and open her mouth to ask what that had been about, when he tossed that notebook into her lap, as if to placate her curiosity. He did not speak, but instead turned in the driver's seat to scowl through the Escalade's back window as he backed them out of the alley. The words 'Chicago Police Department Directory' were typed in black letters on the light blue, laminated cover to the booklet and Jayde felt her heart sink; apparently, Joker had just received his hit-list.

While it did not necessarily make sense to her that Joker would seek revenge on a police department no where near Gotham, especially when the police had not really had anything to do with Tre's death, she realized that nothing he did ever really made sense to her. She was positive it was perfectly clear and rational in _his _mind, and she was not anywhere _near_ close to mentioning it or asking a question concerning his motives. So with an acquiescent silence, Jayde held onto the book in her lap but nearly jumped as her mind took her back to her conversation with Charlie at the coffee shop with a jolt, reminding her vividly of what she sincerely wanted to ask him. This time, she could not hold her question back…She _had _to know.

As she cleared her throat, Jayde glanced over, just in time to catch Joker's eyes quickly look over from the road, not bothering to turn his head, but instead using his peripheral vision. That familiar sense of foreboding filled her but Jayde went on anyways, desperate for an answer.

"Did you…kill a girl named Sarah last week?" she came right out with it, figuring that stalling and trying to word it differently would only serve to irritate him further. But as he shifted slightly in the driver's seat, switching his hands on the steering wheel to once again lean on his elbow against the door, he did not look over and instead, licked his lips, clicking his tongue lightly against the roof of his mouth.

"Where did you hear about that?" he asked, his voice low and raspy. Jayde felt another brief moment of panic shoot through her before she quickly lied yet again.

"I saw it in a newspaper at the coffee shop…" she explained hastily. "It said…that her face had been cut so…"

"So you assumed it was me." he finished for her, glancing to the left through the window next to him as they passed a parked, empty police car. "Well, yes. It was I. She was leaving the movie theater on Park when I followed her and cut her throat." At this, Jayde swallowed hard, closing her eyes to shake her head.

"Ok, I didn't need to know all that." She murmured, but glanced over when Joker grunted a laugh.

"Then ya shouldn't have asked me about it." He replied smartly. "Did it have a picture of her in the paper?" he went on to ask after a short pause.

"No," Jayde answered, her eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion. "Why?" Again, Joker grunted another laugh, glancing over at her from the driver's seat. Their eyes met briefly before he looked back to the street before them.

"Because she looked a lot like _you."_

Another silent, tense ten minutes passed before Jayde realized once again, that they were not taking streets that took them back to the house and were instead moving deeper into the city. This time, seeing how Joker had been willing to answer her question about his most recent murder, she felt more bold about speaking up.

"Where are we going?" she asked, looking both ways through the windows as he pulled the Escalade off the road and into another narrow alley, between two large, stone buildings, containing random stores and businesses. From the driver's seat, she heard Joker let out a low groan from inside his throat as he put the truck in park and turned it off, taking the keys from the ignition as he opened the door.

"Well, _come along_ and you'll find out."

So Jayde did exactly that, hastily undoing her seatbelt to practically launch herself out of the car and trot around the back of it, honestly a little excited to be included in one of his plans again. It had been what felt like years since she had been out with him, doing something fun and slightly dangerous and she was just about to let her imagination wander to what they could possibly be doing when Joker stepped out of the alley and onto the sidewalk, but only to hook an immediate right into the door of the first shop in the building. Jayde felt her heart sink as she followed him inside and could not stop herself from letting her shoulders drop disappointedly…an auto parts shop…_Wow, how exciting…_she grumbled silently to herself.

The scent of brand new tires was strangely wonderful and as Jayde followed Joker to the desk and register at the far end of the store, she took several deep breaths, glancing around at all the foreign knick-knacks and gizmos on the walls and in cases. She was more than positive Joker could name and describe the function of every item in there, but to her, they might as well have been instruments for rocket science or brain surgery. However, as they reached the glass counter, to find that the store seemed completely empty of personnel, something shiny caught Jayde's attention in the case along the other wall so she walked away from Joker to go admire the flashy, gaudy license plates and decals the glass case contained. But as she turned to walk away, she jumped when a bell went off, one loud ring after the other.

Glancing back at Joker, she smirked to herself when she noticed him smacking his hand down repeatedly on the small bell on the counter, scowling at the short, empty hallway until a squat, older man stepped out, pushing a large pair of wire-framed glasses onto his bald head. His white, bushy eyebrows were raised as he quickly waddled down the hall toward the back of the counter, a friendly warm smile on his face as he glanced from Jayde to Joker and back again.

"Sorry 'bout that, I didn't hear the door!" he explained in a wheezy voice, which plainly expressed that he had been a smoker for at least forty years. Jayde walked back over to stand next to Joker as he shifted his weight impatiently from one purple high-top to the other.

"_Clearly…"_ he growled rudely, ignoring the way the poor older man's friendly expression fell rapidly into annoyance. "I need an A-line fuse for a '67 Stingray Corvette." Joker went on to explain, motioning at the wall behind the man. "Got any of those?"

As the man's expression deepened into further irritation at being addressed so impolitely, he glanced at Jayde before he turned and she smiled sympathetically at him, wishing there was someway for her to apologize to him for her man's horrible manners. With a sigh, the store owner pulled his wide glasses back down onto his face and pressed them closer to his eyes, tilting his head back slightly to peer through the magnified section of the lenses as he read the names on the boxes hanging behind the counter.

"Well…" the man started, pulling down one of the small, rectangular boxes to open it and dump two small fuses into the palm of his rough, callused hand. "I've got two A-lines for twenty. Or three for twenty-five." He explained, once again glancing from the Joker to Jayde and back again.

"Hmm…" Joker hummed interestedly, picking up one of the fuses to hold it up and inspect it. "How about I take _one _for ten." He bargained, pointing at the other fuse still left in the man's hand. "And you can keep that one for luck." Jayde wanted _dearly _to roll her eyes but held herself back from it. The poor, increasingly grumpy old man opened his mouth as if to protest.

"Well, uh…They only come as either a two-…" he started to say, but as he stared up at the Joker's evil, scarred face, seemingly noticing the scars for the first time since they had entered the store, he backed down and closed the other fuse up in his hand, nodding once. "Yeah, that's a deal. Ten for the one."

Jayde honestly felt bad for the guy, being cheated out of his product by Joker's particular brand of intimidation, but while he reached into his back pocket for some money, she noticed that the man was still staring openly at Joker's scars, absentmindedly running his tongue along the inside of his mouth, as if imagining what it felt like. She wanted to warn him, to snap her fingers or something to get his attention, even lift her shirt to flash the guy, anything to break his staring contest with Joker's face, knowing how much he _hated _being gawked at. But as Joker looked back up to hand the ten dollar bill over to the man, he suddenly reached out to grab two handfuls of the front of the man's white business shirt, as if he had felt the gaze on him the entire time. Jayde let out a squeal of a gasp as his lips tightened to show off his gritted teeth as he nearly pulled the man off the ground from across the counter to be at his level.

"Something wrong with my _face, _pops?" he asked with a snarl, ignoring the way Jayde tugged on his arm, glancing back through the store toward the window and door. Thankfully no one was watching as the poor, older man stammered and mouthed wordlessly in shock, blinking wide-eyed back up at the Joker's livid face.

"N-no. Not at all." He finally managed to get out, shaking his head somewhat frantically, holding up his hands in innocence. "Sorry, sorry."

At this, Joker let go of the man with a shove, tearing his arm away from Jayde's grasp with an annoyed glance down at her before he tossed the ten dollar bill in the air toward the man. "That's what I thought." He snapped, reaching over to grab Jayde's upper arm in a tight, machine-like grip, dragging her along with him toward the door. "And _you _have yourself a _blessed _day, wont you?" he then added over his shoulder.

Outside the shop, back in the alley, Jayde let out a frustrated, angry little cry as she ripped her arm away from his grip, then pushed him away from her as hard as she could, though he only stumbled a half-step backwards. A huff of supreme irritation left her chest, blowing a frizzy curl of her hair away from her face as she glared up at him.

"I don't know who you think you are, grabbing my arm like that." She snapped, but was only given a split second to react when Joker advanced toward her, closing the distance between them so quickly, her back hit the side of the Escalade with a dull thud. He towered over her, his eyes furious and full of unmistakable hatred.

"I don't know who ya think _you _are, grabbing _my _arm like that." He repeated her exact words, with particular emphasis on the point he was trying to get across to her. That streak of momentary anger and confidence Jayde had felt disappeared immediately when Joker grew even closer to her, staring straight down at her at so short a distance, her forehead would have met his chest if she had looked down any further. His finger pressed painfully into the soft underside of her chin, tilting it upwards with a jerk so she was forced to meet his eyes. "The next time something like that happens, you don't _fucking _touch me, got it? Or I might just bypass _grabbing _your arm, go straight for _breaking _it, you unda-stand?"

By now, tears had begun to well up along Jayde's lower eyelids, spilling over her shorter, dark eyelashes to slide down her cheeks until they landed on the light blue material of her sweater. Despite the painful sensation of Joker's finger practically pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth from under her chin, she nodded an understanding, swallowing hard several times as he walked away and climbed into the driver's seat, without another word.

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A/N: An admittedly short chapter, yes. But I wanted to get this out faster this time around, since the next two chapters are going to be a little more intense to write. I REALLY want to hear your feedback. Let me know where you THINK the story is going! I want to see what you guys have in mind as far as predictions go. So let me know! LEAVE A REVIEW! -QoM


	10. Calm

Jayde grinned to herself through the passenger window as the Corvette rumbled and rolled backwards out of the driveway slowly with Joker behind the wheel, looking defeated and rather annoyed, but she didn't care. Ten minutes prior, when he had stated he was going out to test drive the newly repaired, classic sports car and take care of some business, she had bravely stood up from the bed, taking a deep breath of courage to call after him as he left the room. The words had come out sounding surprisingly bold and confident, highly contradictory of the way she felt inside.

"Can I come with you?" she had asked as she trotted after him, and could remember feeling an almost sick sensation in the pit of her stomach when Joker stopped mid-step but did not turn around at first. His shoulders had been hunched slightly as though she had just thrown a bag of dog poop at his back. When he hesitated, Jayde had felt the need to go on and explain why she had asked.

"It…It's just that…I'm so bored here by myself when you're not here and…I really want to see how the Corvette drives now."

She was one-hundred percent positive Joker had known this last bit was a bold-faced lie but thankfully, he had decided not to call her out on it and instead, miraculously, heaved a heavy sigh as his shoulders slumped even further.

"_Fine…" _he had answered breathily, which now led them to where they were now- sitting in the compact car, Jayde thrilled to death to be out and about with him, and Joker peeved that he had found himself unable to say no to her.

Being that he had so reluctantly agreed to allow her to accompany him, Jayde hesitated to ask what they were going to be doing and forced herself to remain silent, even though the anticipation was killing her. However, the moment she thought this, from the driver's seat, a low growl came from Joker when he cleared his throat.

"So I suppose you're wondering where we're going," he said, his voice low and slightly annoyed as he leaned forward a bit as if listening for noises under the hood from inside the car. Jayde's grin expanded as she looked over at him, nodding excitedly. "Well, too bad." Her face fell dramatically before she rolled her eyes, turning back to the window.

Fortunately, the Corvette seemed to be running fine and before long, it had taken them all the way across the outskirts of the main city to a very low class, government housing neighborhood, where the one or two bedroom homes were all nearly identical. They were almost all perfectly square, with the same black, plain door, the same single, four pane window and the same small, concrete porch. Some of these homes seemed to be kept in better condition, while the others seemed so run-down, they appeared almost uninhabitable, with pieces of cardboard taped up over broken windows and crooked, rusted television antennas practically dangling from the roofs. Jayde could not help but feel a bit of apprehension upon taking in her rather ghetto surroundings but as usual, with the Joker beside her, she felt nothing could do her harm as long as she didn't stray too far. Despite this, she honestly hoped they would not be in this particular part of town for very long.

After circling the entire complex, for reasons Jayde did not understand, Joker finally pulled off the main road and parked in a driveway, as luck would have it, in front of one of the more neglected homes. Her eyes had just fallen onto a chain link fence to the side of the house where a large, very mean-looking pit bull stood growling when Joker suddenly reached over to the glove compartment in front of her knees to open it and pull out a small silver handgun. She watched with widened eyes as he tucked it into the back of his jeans.

"Can I stay in the car?" she asked cautiously, watching from her seat as he prepared to open the door. Surprisingly, he shrugged.

"Sure," he replied somewhat brightly, looking over at her. Both of her eyebrows raised together in shock.

"Really?"

"No," he then corrected in the same bright, incredulous tone she had used before he nodded his head toward the opening door beside him. "You wanted to come with me so…_come with me." _Jayde rolled her eyes heavily from behind his back as he got out of the car and she moved to copy him, quickly walking around the front of the Corvette to keep as little distance between them as possible.

The short, cracked concrete walkway up to the porch and front door was littered with blunt wrappers and gutted tobacco which left Jayde to wonder if Joker was perhaps here to buy weed since it was unlikely he would be selling any. Again, Jayde wanted to ask him, but just then did not seem like the appropriate time as he was already knocking twice, heavily on the black, metal door. It opened only a short moment later, revealing a shorter, very dark-skinned black man, chewing dully on a thin, wooden toothpick stuck in the corner of his mouth. His first glance went straight to Jayde to travel up and down her quickly before he turned to Joker and smirked, giving a small toss of his head.

"Ay, Ki," he greeted him, taking one step outside the house to lock hands with the Joker in a very black-guy style handshake where they briefly bumped forearms. "How you been, mah' dude? 'S been a hot minute." The man was saying, but did not wait for a response from Joker before he turned to Jayde and removed the toothpick, licking his lips in a rather revolting way before he smiled widely at her. Jayde tried hard to camouflage her cringe within the smile she returned. The four gold teeth on the top row of his mouth caught the light pretentiously. "And who is _this?" _he went on to ask, dropping the deep slang he had been using before he extended his hand to Jayde in a horribly forced, charming manner. She was just about to reach out and shake his hand politely when Joker slapped the man's hand back down to his side.

"Lazer, Jayde. Jayde, Lazer," he introduced impatiently, raising his eyebrows as he fanned his hands toward the inside of the house. "C'mon, move it. I'm not tryna stand out here on this doorstep all day."

Jayde smirked to herself as she stepped inside the house behind the two guys, wondering what Joker's motive for doing that had been; impatience or overprotection? The first option seemed more likely than the second…

The inside of the house reeked of stale cigars, weed and something else Jayde was unsure of and as she followed Joker over to a small kitchen area, she couldn't help but notice how messy and unkempt Lazer kept his home and yet how clean and neat his clothes appeared. The baggy jean shorts and crisp t-shirt he was wearing did not look cheap in any sense of the word and neither did the sparkling, dazzling chain he was wearing around his neck for that matter. Two giant, diamond studs had been stuck in his ears, practically glowing against his dark skin tone; Jayde tried not to stare as he leaned against a counter in the kitchen, once again removing the toothpick from the corner of his mouth. It seemed he was about to speak but Joker beat him to it, frowning as he pointed down at Lazer's ankle and the thick, black, electronic band around it.

"You're on house arrest?" he asked in surprise, raising his eyebrows when Lazer nodded, but then shrugged.

"Yeah, they caught up wit' me 'bout four months ago, dog," he explained gravely, reaching to the left to open a drawer and pull out a previously half-smoked blunt. He lit it with another shrug as Joker folded his arms, his eyebrows arching in slight confusion.

"And you're passing your drug tests…how?" he asked, reaching over to take the now ignited blunt from Lazer as he held it out to him. With a puff of smoke, Lazer let out a short laugh.

"Meh', passing drug tests is for kiddies, you know dat, bruh." He answered. While Joker nodded his agreement, Lazer let his eyes drift over to Jayde and he smirked yet again, locking eyes with her for only a second before he looked over to take the blunt back. "So where you find this one at?" he asked Joker. Jayde tried hard not to make a noise of disdain as she crossed her arms irritably. _This one?_ Unfortunately, this was not the first time she had been addressed as such…She noticed Joker glance over at her with just his eyes before he looked back to Lazer and let his eyes fall to the bottom corner of the cabinet behind him.

"Long story…" he grumbled. A second later, his eyebrows raised as he unfolded his arms, bringing his eyes back up. "So how 'bout it? We're doing the-…" The rest of what he said was unimportant to Jayde as she stared at him, open-mouthed, her eyebrows practically meeting in the middle of her forehead. _Really? _He hadn't felt it necessary to correct his 'friend', to explain that she was not just some _object _to him? And what was more, he hadn't felt the need to tell the painfully _short _story of how he had chosen her out of a window in Gotham, stalked her for three days then kidnapped her? A lump formed in Jayde's throat, signaling the next stage of hurt, which was almost always tears.

"I'm going to sit in the car." She interrupted suddenly, turning to walk toward the front door, only to stop when she noticed Joker reach into his pocket to produce the keys. He held them out to her without a word, without even looking at her, which led Jayde to believe that he understood why she wanted to leave so abruptly. Perhaps he didn't blame her.

Fifteen minutes later, Jayde looked up from her place in the passenger seat when she heard the metal door to Lazer's house shut with a slight bang, only to spot Joker trudging toward the Corvette, his shoulders hunched with that usual scowl firmly in place. Her arms had been folded angrily over her chest since she had come out to sit in the car and they remained that way, even as Joker opened the door to sit down in the driver's seat. She did not bother to look over from where she was staring through the window at the now sleeping dog in the side yard. Beside her, Joker let out a slow sigh as he started the car and from the way she heard him pause before shifting it into reverse, Jayde could sense that he had glanced over at her.

"What's _your _problem?" he asked scathingly, finally shifting the rumbling Corvette so it could roll backwards out of the short driveway. Again, Jayde did not bother to look over and kept her arms crossed resolutely.

"I don't like your friend." She put simply, deciding it would be safest to put the blame on Lazer and not the fact that Joker had not defended her when she had been addressed so poorly. Next to her, she heard him grunt a very quiet, almost undetectable laugh.

"First of all, he's not my friend," he explained, holding up one finger from where he gripped the gear shifter. "Second…me either." He then went on to say, glaring through the windshield as he reflected back to all the times Lazer had 'jokingly' called him 'Mister GQ' and 'pretty boy'. Honestly, he could not blame Jayde for disliking Lazer and therefore was not mad about her leaving the house so suddenly to go sit in the car when he had originally said she couldn't. In the seat beside him, Jayde was shaking her head, slowly unfolding her arms to look down at her lap.

"I shouldn't have come with you," she admitted somewhat sadly. "I just wanted to get out of the house and-…" Here, she stopped herself from going on to say that she really just wanted to spend more time with him; the chance was still too great that he would think she was stupid for saying such a thing. However, when Jayde half-expected him to say something like 'I told you so' or 'See?' or something equally as condescending, she was stunned into near silence when he cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly, shifting slightly in the seat as he placed both of his large hands on the top of the steering wheel.

"Well…I'm kinda glad you came with me." he admitted with what seemed like great effort, but then continued when he sensed Jayde's shock. "I hate going to do this sorta stuff alone…Usually Tr-…I usually have someone with me."

In the passenger seat, Jayde forced herself not to look over but felt her heart break into a million pieces; apparently, Joker still could not bring himself to say Tre's name.

After several minutes, when no one spoke, Joker glanced over at Jayde from the driver's seat, shifting again slightly as he anticipated what he was about to offer.

"I um-…" he paused when he felt her look over at him. "I have one more place to stop but…we're gonna pass the house on the way. Do you want me to drop you off…? Or…"

Jayde sighed heavily as she weighed her options, honestly surprised that he had even considered giving her a choice. He was in a astoundingly good mood today, which really made her want to take advantage of the situation and go with him, to spend as much time as possible around him while he was feeling less irritable…but on the other hand, there was a great chance whoever he was supposed to be meeting was very much like Lazer and Jayde didn't think she could handle being seen as just another one of 'Ki's' chew toys. So she nodded.

"Yeah, I'll just go home." she answered, but glanced down to where his hand was rested on the black ball of the gear shifter. A moment later, her hand reached out of it's own accord to rest on top of his and press the tips of her fingers into the spaces between his larger ones. Her heart leapt when he did not pull his hand away. She pressed her luck further. "What are you going to do anyways?" she went on to ask but felt a pang of disappointment when Joker pulled his hand away, only to reach into his pocket to pull out a rolled up, plastic, zip-loc bag containing a solid inch of white powder. Jayde's eyes widened. "Is that coke?"

Joker nodded and moved to stow it back into his pocket, but hesitated, raising his eyebrows as he held it out to her. "Why, you wanna bump?"

At this, Jayde laughed, shaking her head as Joker smirked, lifting his hips to tuck it back into his pocket.

Ten quiet, but surprisingly not-awkward minutes later, the Corvette was pulling back into the driveway at the house on the corner of Lincoln and Platt where Joker put the car instantly back into reverse and Jayde unbuckled her seatbelt with a sigh. As she looked over at him, Joker licked his lips, gazing down at the center console as if feeling strange to be doing her a favor, but Jayde ignored this.

"When will you be back?" she asked bravely, hoping and praying he was not about to say 'when I get back' or something equally as sardonic. As he shrugged, glancing down at his phone, Jayde felt herself begin to smile; she really could not believe how patient and almost _nice _he was being that day.

"No longer than an hour, I'm guessing," he answered. Despite his seemingly good mood, his voice still bore that same flat, uninterested, almost annoyed bite to it but again, Jayde pushed her luck with his disposition and nodded, leaning over to kiss him lightly on the cheek, making double sure to let her lips land right smack in the middle of his curved scar.

"Be safe," she told him as she got out of the car but did not wait for a reply as she shut the door, glancing back over her shoulder one time as the Corvette began to roll backwards.

With Joker gone and the house to herself yet again, Jayde was surprised to be feeling less angry and bored than she had been used to feeling lately and was instead ready to eat some lunch, smoke a cigarette, and maybe even call Dotcom. And since lunch was first on that list, she went straight for the kitchen, wondering whether or not she ought to make something for Joker as well, in case he was hungry when he got back. The day before, she would have laughed out loud at herself for even considering doing something nice for him. But he really had been somewhat nice that afternoon so far, at least compared to how he _had _been acting, and for some reason, Jayde felt like rewarding his good behavior might act as something like positive reinforcement…She let out a quiet giggle as she imagined patting him on the head and squealing 'good boy!' when he came home.

After eating, with a cigarette next on the list, Jayde stepped out onto the front porch and lit one, once again wearing Joker's gray sweatshirt…now that she didn't feel like she might be killed for putting it on. Leaning back in the chair, she brought the heels of her feet up to rest against the edge of the seat, running her finger along her ankle and the area of skin just above it with a cringe. Being that Joker had been in such an insufferable mood over the past week, they had not been anywhere _close _to being intimate with each other which left Jayde with an abnormally vast amount of unattended leg hair that rubbed uncomfortably against the inside of her jeans…not to mention a greater-than-usual amount of hair _elsewhere _that desperately needed to be removed.

Of course, there was every chance that Joker would return home and be in a horrible mood yet again, but Jayde was willing to bet that if she shaved her legs and other unmentionable areas of her body, he would be unable to resist and just might give in if the temptation were to present itself. Her stomach clenched up and her heart gave a sad lurch, however, when she thought back to the last two times they had sex and the horribly abrupt way Joker had left the house afterwards, as though she had just been some sort of booty call. She did not think she was ready to undergo that sickening, dejected, used feeling a third time.

With a jolt, she remembered the third item on her list and if there was one person who could give her surprisingly outstanding advice on straight men, it was Dotcom.

After retrieving her phone, she dialed the number from memory and pressed it to her ear, forcing herself not to bounce her knee as she waited anxiously for Dotcom to answer. Hopefully, he wouldn't be at work…

"Hello?"

"HI!" she practically squealed, giggling when Dotcom did the same and she could just picture him bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Hi, honey! You sound great so I'm not even gonna ask how you are." He said and Jayde laughed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I'm better. Joker's been in…kind of a good mood today," she explained, but then rolled her eyes as she took a drag from her cigarette. "But I'm not going to hold my breath on that one." Dotcom groaned an understanding and Jayde continued, tapping a bit of ash onto the ground beside the chair. "Which is kind of why I called you…I need some advice…"

"Oh, yeah? What about?" he asked interestedly, clearly hoping it was about to be something concerning an outfit or decorating, or cooking or even something to do with her phone or a computer. Jayde let out a short giggle.

"My sex life." She answered, but then giggled again, harder when she could practically hear Dotcom rolling his eyes through the phone.

"Oh Lord…" he groaned. "Alright, fine. Let's hear it."

So at that point, Jayde launched into a fairly detailed account of the past two weeks and how Joker seemed to only want to show her affection or sexual attention when he was either drunk or incredibly stoned. She told him about how rough he had been with her and how he seemingly hadn't even tried to let her finish, and most importantly, she told him about how hurt she felt when he did not bother to kiss or hold her like he used to after everything was done and how used she felt when he got up and left the house completely, leaving her behind to cry herself to sleep. All of this took nearly ten minutes to explain.

"And…I really feel like he just doesn't want me anymore and that he has to force himself to have sex with me!" she practically cried, but then quieted herself when she noticed the elderly black lady across the street out in her yard with a hose, watering her grass. At this, Dotcom let out a snort into the phone.

"Jayde…c'mon…_Trust _me, that is not the case. I can _promise _you that." He assured her, laughing slightly. "He just has a lot going on, emotionally and mentally right now that it's taking away from his normally…_more than active _sex drive." He went onto explain but then groaned a bit. "God, this is so weird to be talking about. But listen, here's what you do. After you take a shower tonight, go and find him wearing nothing but a bra and the panties you _know _he likes and just sit on his lap. I _guarantee _he wont be able to resist." He instructed. Jayde grinned to herself, knowing he was right. "And when it starts getting all steamy, stay in control and _wear his ass out, _girl. If you do it right, he wont even _want _to go anywhere, let alone _walk._"

At this, Jayde found a flaw in his plan.

"But-,"

Dotcom cut in before she could finish. "And don't even _worry _about a kiss or any mushy shit afterwards. _You _get up and leave _him _laying there when it's over. Make him _want _that kiss."

Finally, Jayde agreed that his plan was indeed somewhat fool proof and that if she really did play it right, she would have Joker laying there, sweating, breathing hard and unable to move, at which point, she would do exactly what Dotcom had said- get up and leave…maybe not leave the house entirely, but at least go smoke a cigarette and let him recover alone, just so he might possibly get a taste of how it feels. _Then, _she would return and kiss him firmly on the lips, roll over and go right to sleep with her man laying just behind her. She couldn't _wait _until later that night…

When that predicted hour Joker had given her moved closer to two, Jayde felt herself begin to grow a bit worried, wondering if he had maybe been pulled over and arrested or shot or ganged up on or…All of these crazy thoughts and paranoid ideas began to swirl around inside her mind, making her antsy and nervous and Jayde was just about to dial the number to his phone, thinking of going absolutely insane and _calling him_, when she heard the distant, familiar rumbling of the Corvette, coming down Lincoln toward the house. Despite herself, she jumped up, taking her cigarette with her to round the corner of the house, just in time to watch as Joker pulled into the driveway, locking eyes with her through the windshield to point at the garage door, indicating silently that he would like her to lift it for him.

Placing her cigarette precariously between her lips, she held it there so she could groan and strain to lift the heavy door with both hands, but being that she was so short, she could only get it three quarters of the way up. With an almighty push, she jumped slightly, hoping it would go the rest of the way up and stay that way, but as it slid up quickly and bounced on the tracks, it came right back down, narrowly missing the top of her head. Jayde groaned as the door slammed back down to the ground, but looked over to the Corvette when she heard a strangely familiar, muffled, loud, obnoxious sound; Joker was laughing, _hard. _

Jayde grinned when he rocked forward, his eyes squeezed shut as his forehead met the top of the steering wheel and his fist banged the dashboard a few times, his shoulders bouncing as he laughed at probably how ridiculous and short she was. She was the furthest from being mad at him for laughing at her that she had ever been and instead walked over as Joker got out, still giggling breathlessly and wiping the corners of his eyes. Her bottom lip poked out when he stepped over to her, shaking his head.

"Shut up!" she cried, trying hard not to grin; it had been so long since she had seen him laugh like that, let alone _smile. _"It's not funny." At this, Joker burst into more laughter as he doubled over, bracing himself with his hand on her shoulder.

"No, no, Jayde, it's _hilarious._" He wheezed, standing back up to walk over and pull up the garage door himself, shaking his head as he went. "God _damn, _that was funny. _Jeeesus christ…_"

Once inside the house, after Joker had finished her cigarette for her, Jayde went about cleaning up the kitchen while he found the day's newspaper and sat down at the table, settling himself into silence. Thankfully, his mildly good mood had not seemed to dissipate yet but Jayde was hesitant about pushing her luck, remembering how a few times he had seemed perfectly fine but then surprised her with a harsh outburst seemingly minutes later. So after wiping down all the counters, the front of the oven, microwave and around the eyes of the stove, she left him where he sat without a word, walking back to the bedroom to lay down for a bit and see what was on tv.

The next few hours passed without much noise from any area of the house to Jayde's surprise. While she had been hoping Joker would eventually come and join her on the bed, she had not been shocked when she heard the garage door swing open then shut a moment later, signaling that he had once again taken refuge with the cars. There was undoubtedly more to work on with the Corvette and since he had not been a total asshole earlier that day, she did not feel disappointed or irritated that he had not chosen to come lay with her…as long as he did not make the same decision later that night…

Beyond the house, the sun had just dipped past the horizon and plunged the city of Chicago into near darkness, the last, diminishing rays bathing the town in a cool, bluish tone, dropping the temperature outside by several degrees. At some point, Jayde had turned onto her side and was slipping quickly into a shallow sleep when vaguely, she heard the sound of the garage door opening again, followed shortly by the sharp clicking noise it made when being shut. Her eyes opened slowly and a moment later, she noticed Joker's tall, lean form stepping into the bedroom, peeling off his shirt as he went to his dresser. Jayde watched him and was just wondering if he realized she was awake when his deep voice met her ears over the low volume of the tv.

"Your car is completely fixed," he said curtly once he had stood back up from leaning down to retrieve a clean pair of boxers and a towel. When Jayde did not immediately reply, he glanced over his shoulder, arching an eyebrow. "I'll take that 'thank you' anytime now…" This statement had been rather rude but this was nothing unusual from how he had always been so she let out a quiet giggle, turning further onto her side to hide half of her face in his pillow.

"Thank you, Joker," she purred softly, hoping her tone would pique his interest, but instead of coming to the bed to kiss her like she had been foolishly hoping for, he merely gave his 'you're welcome' in the form of one short grunt. When he left the room a half-second later to go down to the bathroom and shut the door behind him, Jayde sighed as her eyes slid shut. His mood was worsening yet again, but she would not let this deter her from putting Dotcom's plan into action once she got out of her own shower.

He was not in there for very long, as was usual for him, but the second Jayde heard that bathroom door open, she quickly got up from the bed, anxious to get in there and start shaving her legs. The Joker entered the room again, this time with a towel wrapped loosely around his hips, but as much as she would have liked to yank the piece of material from his hands and go at it right there, her legs and _other _areas were really less than appealing and if she was trying to have him enjoy it and want to stick around afterwards, she figured it would be best to have as little body hair as possible. So she ignored him, as difficult as this was, considering the cuts over his hips leading downward seemed more defined than usual, and left the room, her stomach already alive with butterflies when she allowed herself to take in a deep breath of his masculine, sexy scent.

When she emerged from the shower, almost a half hour later, feeling like a brand new woman with her slick legs and even softer pussy, Jayde glanced into the living room as she passed quickly in a towel, feeling as though the gods were smiling down on her when she noticed that Joker had chosen to take a seat on the couch. From what she had noticed at just a glance, he was leaned back against the cushions, shirtless, with one of his long, strong arms rested up along the back of the couch to the left of him, the other down with his forearm rested across his middle…almost as though he knew she was planning to do. With a quiet giggle, Jayde practically hopped into the bedroom, hastily discarding the towel to fish through the top drawer of her dresser for the one pair of underwear she _knew _he liked…

Ten minutes later, Joker had not even heard Jayde enter the living room when suddenly, she was swinging one of her legs over him, her right knee meeting the couch beside him before the left did the same and she lowered herself down onto his lap slowly, her hands moving to rest lightly on his bare shoulders. He did not move his eyes from where they had been focused on the tv, although he did notice that she was wearing only a black, lacy bra that hugged and pushed her breasts up, creating subtle but perfect half-moons of cleavage. When she did not say anything, he cleared his throat, blinking slowly as he raised his eyes to meet hers. He licked his lips.

"Excuse me, but I can't see the-…" he had been about to say something that probably would have angered her, but Jayde did not leave him time to finish his sentence and instead leaned down, pressing her lips to his. She was surprisingly gentle with this action, but as Joker groaned contentedly into her mouth, opening his own to let in her tongue, she pulled away abruptly, once satisfied that he was not going to finish his rude comment. She licked her already moist lips, allowing the tip of her tongue to linger on the pointed tip of her canine tooth.

"I wanna show you something," she explained playfully, leaning away from him, alerting him finally to the fact that she was not wearing pants either and had instead chosen to put on that positively sexy pair of black lace, boycut panties. Joker's eyebrow arched sharply, indicating silently that he would like her to go on. With a soft giggle, she leaned back even further, tossing her head slightly so her dripping wet black curls fell behind her shoulders. Her fingers started at the middle of her stomach, sliding downward toward the line of her underwear.

Joker's eyes followed the movement eagerly until her fingers slid under the lace before moving away from her body, taking the material with them so she could show him what sat behind it. A low hum left his chest as he eyed the velvety appearance of the skin well below her belly button, letting his top teeth bite down on his bottom lip, rolling it beneath them, taking his time to let his tongue trace the deep scar there. Jayde watched this lustfully, knowing the only reason he did that was to tease her…it worked every time. A moment later, he reached out with one finger to find out if it was as soft as it looked, but Jayde released the lace to let it cling to her body again, cutting the area off from him teasingly. With a frustrated growl, Joker lifted his eyes to meet hers, glaring up at her from beneath the ridge of his eyebrows and from behind several pieces of his slowly drying, wavy greenish hair.

"You have my…_undivided_ attention," he informed her, finally reaching out both hands, one sliding up the side of her thigh from her knee, the other resting on her hip to tighten his grip slowly, pulling her toward him. Jayde watched, exhaling slowly in a soft sigh as opened his mouth slightly to let his teeth lightly bite down on lace of her bra, along the angled piece of fabric against her cleavage. He tugged gently, again looking up at her with just his eyes, softening his expression to mimic a perfect set of puppy dog eyes. "Can I touch it now?"

Just the voice he had used and the way he was gazing up at her was enough to force a soft moan from Jayde as she tilted her head back, arching her spine so sharply, she felt the tips of her long hair brush his knees behind her. His tongue was warm and wet as it traveled along the chasm between her breasts but retreated into his mouth as he contracted his lips to trace several kisses along the curve of cleavage. At this, Jayde couldn't help but grin to herself, thankful above everything for his sobriety, which was clearly enabling him to be as fucking sexy and advanced at turning her on that he had ever been. Being stoned had kept him lazy and almost acting as though he wanted to just get it over with, and being drunk had left him clumsy and too rough, biting too hard and leaving bruises wherever he touched her. Sober, he could keep his touches light and his kisses precise, hitting all the right places to have her practically soaking, dripping through her panties and onto the lap of his jeans within mere moments.

So distracted by mentally noting these differences to herself, Jayde failed to notice the location of Joker's right hand, but as a soft snap caught her attention, just before her bra lost contact with her body, she gasped in surprise, clutching the cups of the garment to her breasts. Joker pulled away from where he had been kissing her chest to copy her gasp, his eyes widened slightly up at her as though he hadn't been expecting that to happen either. However, as the corners of his scarred lips turned up in a sly grin, he reached up, pulling on the material until Jayde allowed him to move it away from her body, exposing her perfectly, symmetrically-shaped breasts and the erect nipples that accompanied them.

"_Woops…"_ he growled, his voice low and raspy, yet clowny, all at the same time. "_Who _could've seen _that _coming…" he then added sarcastically, reaching up with one hand to cup one of them, pinching her nipple lightly between his thumb and the inside of his hand. But once he had noticed Jayde's rather stunned silence, he let out another growl, using both hands to pull her closer sharply, until he could close his lips around that same nipple, swirling his tongue instantly as Jayde struggled in vain. Wasn't _she _supposed to be in charge?

As somewhat painful as it was, Jayde pulled away from Joker and his greedy mouth, pushing herself back with her hands on his shoulders before she smirked down at the frustrated scowl on his face. She wanted desperately to tell him that it was 'her turn' but knowing how Joker felt about being teased, she kept her mouth shut and instead reached down to her side to take his hand from her hip. Surprisingly, Joker remained patient for the time being and watched her do this, but only to let his jaw drop slightly when she opened her mouth to slide his pointer finger into it, using her tongue to trace and moisten it. His middle finger followed a second later and he could not help but moan quietly, watching her closed lips as she slid her tongue between them inside her mouth.

Her sparkling blue eyes remained locked on his glassy and dilated brown ones as she slowly slid his wet fingers from her mouth, promptly pulling his hand down to where her thighs parted over his lap. Joker seemed to get the point instantly and used the middle finger from his other hand to tug the saturated crotch of her panties to the side. Wetting his fingers so surreptitiously had been nearly superfluous as her pussy was already absolutely soaked and practically dripping down her legs and as Joker just barely let the tip of his pointer finger trace her folds, Jayde let out a short whimper before a sharp gasp brought it back in, forcing her head back and her jaw to drop. He watched in mild amazement, wondering what was making her react so strongly when he was only touching her, but upon thinking back over the past week and how he had not even kissed her once, it became obvious that she was maybe a little starved for a good petting…Hadn't he promised himself he would not let her go that long without some dick again?

Flattening his finger, Joker traced her from back to front, surprised at how well she had managed to shave. She was completely and totally soft, hairless and flawless, which only forced more blood rapidly from his brain down into the almost painfully hard dick in his jeans, which she just so happened to be sitting on. As the tip of his finger traveled past her entrance, Joker smirked, his eyebrow arching when he felt her clench instinctually, anticipating what he was now clearly teasing her with.

"Hmm…" he growled, now torturously circling her entrance with the tip of his middle finger. "You want it _bad, _huh…"

But almost as soon as he said this, Jayde was sliding off his lap, gliding her hands along his torso until she could tuck the tips of her fingers behind his belt, tugging hard on his hips until he slouched slightly on the couch, giving her room to kneel between his knees. The sound of his belt being unbuckled was like music to his ears and once Jayde had gotten the loose end free from the metal, she started on the button and zipper, working surprisingly quickly to part one side of the denim from the other. Joker cringed from the increased pressure on his dick but then sighed as she tugged again on his jeans, inching them further from their previous position low on his hips. Then, in a motion Joker had never witnessed before, not in all his years of encounters with this kind, Jayde yanked hard on the top of his boxers, pulling the front of them down low enough to free him and in one movement, caught the swollen tip of his dick between her lips as the material released him.

Before he could stop himself, Joker's hips bucked and his hand instantly moved to grip the back of her hair, forcing himself further into her mouth, anxious and beyond waiting to feel more of the wet warmth surrounding him. His head tilted back against the cushions of the couch as his jaw dropped and a moment of clarity allowed him to wonder how he could have forgotten how good it felt when Jayde swirled her tongue and traced the throbbing vein along the underside of his thick cock. However, it seemed Jayde knew exactly what she was doing and instead of taking as much of him into her mouth as she could handle, she forced him to wait, teasing him by only sucking gently on the tip.

Joker groaned in heightening frustration and was about to go on and force her head down when Jayde pulled her mouth away, bringing her hand up to grip the base of him instead, parting her lips to grin up at him furtively. The corners of her lips were turned up, mocking him as she listened to his ragged, uneven breathing, thoroughly enjoying the way goosebumps rose up along his arms and chest…Then, almost as if someone had flipped on a switch inside his brain, Jayde's motives became instantly clear to him. Coming out to the living room in lingerie, sitting on his lap, not allowing him to touch her at first, then forcing him to stop playing with her so she could tease him…this had all been a poorly crafted way of trying to control him, a not-so-clever ruse to have him begging for it…something Joker would _never _do. If he wanted something, _he took it. _

With an angry, animalistic growl, Joker reached down to grab her upper arms, pulling her up slightly, but only to throw her backwards with such force, her back met the carpet in front of the couch and she slid backwards by an inch or two. He followed instantly, dropping to his knees to move toward her and sit up, reaching out with both hands to forcefully push her thighs apart, exposing that area from which he had been restricted just a few minutes prior.

Jayde struggled to turn over, hoping she could somehow get him on his back to once again gain the upper hand, but it seemed Joker had caught on to her game and was now pinning her thighs to the ground, using his own knees to keep them that way. His hand moved to grip his dick as he leaned over her, placing his other hand next to her head while he spoke into her ear.

"Jayde, I don't _enjoy _being controlled like some _bitch, _you _must _know that by now…" he snarled in her ear and Jayde felt goosebumps rise up all over her arms, but not the kind that made her moan…these were the shivers of apprehension and mingled fear. A second later, a short, switchblade knife appeared in his hand from his back pocket, the blade looking sharp enough to cut stone. Again, Jayde struggled and whimpered as he brought the knife down, but only to slide the tip under the edge of her panties, easily splitting the material up to her hipbone, before copying the action on the other side. It seemed he thought that if he were to release her thighs from beneath his knees, she would crawl away, which brought him to cut the remaining garment from her skin, before ripping it out from under her, forcefully throwing the now ruined, formerly expensive lace lingerie across the room behind him blindly.

Now, with Joker left in his lowered jeans and boxers, he leaned over her yet again, reaching out to wrap his fingers tightly around her wrists, pinning them to the carpet on either side of her shoulders. Jayde arched her back beneath him, groaning in pain from the weight of his knees on her soft legs but as he rocked his hips forward, pushing into her surprisingly slowly, she gasped, whimpering at the stinging, burning sensation.

"Joker," she whined. "It hurts."

At this, he looked up from where he was watching himself push into her, but only to shake his head quickly. "_Good_." He growled, but then, as if to purposely make matters worse, he bucked his hips forward, thrusting as deeply into her as possible, closing his eyes to revel pleasurably in the loud, pained scream that erupted from beneath him. His hips began to move forward and back vigorously, not even sparing a few seconds for Jayde to adjust to the size of him.

He groaned as Jayde whimpered, tightening her hands into fists above his grip on her wrists, her back arching beneath him sharply as she tried to snap him out of this controlling, powerful state he had fallen into. Where had her plan gone wrong? What had she said or done to make him so angry so suddenly? If she was being completely honest, now that the sting was gone, this did feel somewhat good, but the fact that she was being practically pinned to the floor forcefully by the only man she had ever trusted enough to be intimate with was subtracting greatly from the pleasure, leaving only a dull, aching, rather heartbreaking pain.

Above her, Joker was grunting quietly with each thrust, breathing raggedly as he pounding furiously into her, concentrating on what he was doing and not paying the slightest bit of attention to the whimpers given off by Jayde. Looking down, she could see that the normally relaxed and subtle muscles along his abdomen were all tensed and visible and if she could have reached around to his back, she was betting the muscles that lined his spine were also flexed and aiding the bucking of his hips.

With a loud cry, Jayde struggled the hardest she had yet, straining the muscles in her arms when it became unbearable not to grab onto him, when she could not stand the submissive position she was being forced to stay in. Miraculously, either out of mercy or the desire to feel her nails dug into his back, Joker released her wrists, lowering himself onto his forearms on either side of her, putting his warm chest close to her cold body, as if suddenly willing to share his heat with her.

Finally, Jayde moaned, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to breathe heavily against his cheek, praying he could hear the relief in her voice as she whimpered his name into his ear. Now, with Joker allowing her to move more freely, Jayde felt that pleasure return full force and could feel the beginnings of a powerful orgasm begin to work itself up within her. But almost as soon as she began to feel elated that Joker was about to let her get off, even after being so rough with her, a low, loud groan escaped his chest as he buried his face against her neck.

_No, please, not yet…_she pleaded silently with him to try and hold it off until she could finish first, but unconsciously, unfortunately, her walls gave a tight clench around him, which was seemingly all he needed to buck his hips hard several last times, trembling slightly as he spilled deep into her. Through gritted teeth, he growled as his pace slowed, easing himself down from that powerful orgasm before he slid out of her, taking a slight gush of liquid with him that spilled down the cheeks of her ass and soaked into the carpet beneath her. Jayde's hands had come to rest on his chest as he continued to lean over her, but almost as if he couldn't bear to have her touch on him any longer, Joker sat up out of her reach, bringing both hands up to push his long hair away from his face.

Since her original plan had gone to absolute shit, Jayde felt the last ditch effort she could give it would be to sit up quickly and straddle his lap again, wrap her arms around his shoulders and force a kiss on him. But as if Joker had been reading her mind, he stood up, not even bothering to turn away as he tucked himself back into his boxers and turned to walk away from where she lay on the carpet, zipping and buttoning his jeans and buckling his belt as he disappeared into the bedroom.

Either stupidity or crushing, foolish hope allowed Jayde to think that he was about to go and retrieve some clothing for her before he returned to lay down beside her and hold her right there on the floor. But as he stepped back out a few moments later, sliding a t-shirt down over his chest with a set of keys clutched in his hand, Jayde sat up when he walked past her, as though she were a particularly lifelike area rug. At this point, she was beyond asking if he was leaving, as it was perfectly obvious that was exactly what he was doing and did not bother to ask where he was going, to avoid another 'none of your business' outburst. Instead, she went right to the source of her anger.

"Can't you just…lay with me? After what we just _did?" _she asked, her voice higher pitched and sharper than usual in an effort to make him stop and face her as he walked into the kitchen.

"C'mon, Jayde…" he tossed over his shoulder lazily as he filled a small glass with water from the sink. "Don't kid yourself…"

Now completely stunned and angrier than she had ever been in her life, Jayde watched from her spot, sitting up on the living room floor, naked, as Joker quickly drained the glass in one and set it back on the counter with a sigh. Her jaw had dropped in shock but as he moved to walk to the garage door without another word, she smacked her hand down hard on the carpet in front of her as tears instantly sprang to her eyes to travel down her cheeks.

"_ARE YOU JOKING?" _she practically screamed as he opened the door. It seemed the volume of her voice and the tone she had used forced him to stop, but instead of marching back over to where she sat, he stayed in place, his expression completely blank as he stared back at her.

"No, Jayde…I'm the Joke-_R…"_

_._

_._

_._

_._

A/N: I KNOW! I KNOW! What an asshole right? All I can say is buckle up, kiddies. It's about to get rough. I mean…how long did you really expect Jayde to put up with this sort of shit? As the saying goes, third time's a charm…

Oh and I'd like to point out my use of the word 'cock'. I absolutely HATE that word and usually do everything in my power to avoid using it, but for this one chapter, I made an exception, just so I could shout out and promo for my girl Lucky Th13rteen, who is an amazing writer, and clearly has no problem using the 'C-O-C-K' word…A LOT. SO if you enjoy Harry Potter fanfiction and enjoy the ship of D/G, go check out her stories. I can promise you wont be disappointed…I mean, would I lie?

Yours, most trusted and true, The Queen of Mean.

Oh…and leave me a review if you really want to find out if Jayde finally gives Joker what he deserves.


	11. The Storm

The Joker glanced up from behind the newspaper when his keen ears picked up the soft shuffling of socked feet as Jayde slid into the kitchen, surprisingly already dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt. One of his eyebrows arched sharply but he went back to reading without a word, picking up the glass of tart orange juice before him to take a sip before setting it back down with a gentle thud against the wood. He found it a little strange that she had not kissed him on the cheek, but from what he had noticed when she passed him, her normally soft, content features were fixed into a strange, uncommon scowl of sorts, which caused her full lips to appear more pouty and puckered than usual. With a sigh, he rolled his eyes with a slight shake of his head when he caught himself wondering what she was mad about.

The silence in the kitchen was overwhelmingly heavy as Jayde fixed her coffee, keeping her back turned to him the entire time as though he was not even sitting there. When the seconds turned into moments and moments evolved into minutes, Joker found himself looking over from behind the newspaper again, that same eyebrow arching as he stared at the back of her head. He cleared his throat, hoping to catch her attention. Again, she did not turn to look at him and since it seemed unlikely that she had gone mysteriously deaf overnight, he opened his mouth to break the silence.

"We're just about out of-…" he began to say but nearly jumped when Jayde suddenly slammed her empty mug down on the counter, placing her hands on either side of her body to lean on them.

"_Please _don't talk to me," she snapped, then resumed pouring the hot, steaming coffee into her mug. The newspaper made a rustling noise as Joker let his hands drop to the table in front of him in mild surprise at her bold request. His head cocked to the side as both eyebrows arched.

"_Excuse me?"_ he asked dangerously, although he had heard her perfectly; he was hoping his tone would force her to reconsider the way she had just spoken to him. At this, she turned, placing that hand on her hip in the characteristic way he usually found somewhat endearing.

"I'm serious, don't talk to me." she repeated herself sharply, turning back around to now pour some cream into her coffee. She shook her head. "I have nothing nice to say to you after what you did last night."

Jayde must have heard the way his chair scraped against the ugly linoleum flooring as she turned right as he walked up to tower over her and jump into 'intimidate mode'. He reached out, taking her mug of coffee from her to set it on the counter behind her so firmly, a bit of the hot liquid sloshed over the side to form a light brown ring around the base. His hands met the counter on either side of her waist as he leaned down to be more at her level. To his immense surprise, Jayde did not cower or look down like she had been doing lately and instead stared straight up at him, glaring deep into his eyes as though she could see straight through him to the wall on the other side of the kitchen.

"Enlighten me, Jayde…" he growled. "_What _exactly did I do last night…"

Her eyes flickered up and down from his face to his chest and the way he was leaning over her before she took a deep breath as if to steady herself.

"First of all, back up," she began warningly, pushing on his chest with one finger until he obeyed out of sheer astonishment at her direct order. Once he had taken a half step back, she continued, her eyebrows furrowing lines between them as she folded her arms. "Secondly…are you _kidding _me? You pin me down hard enough to leave bruises on my legs, _fuck _me so hard, I'm still sore this morning, then you just _left!" _ she finally vented, unfolding her arms only a second later to toss them frustratedly. "I mean, you've been treating me like a dirty Kleenex! Just use me then toss me in the garbage, like I'm some slut, like I'm some _bitch _you just…_picked up_ off the street."

At this, Joker raised his eyebrows, but only to turn and move to walk away, waving one hand over his shoulder. "Wow, I don't have time for this. Why don't you take it up with my complaint departme-"

"I'M NOT FINISHED YET!"

Jayde's voice echoed and rang through the entire house, raising goosebumps along Joker's forearms as he stopped mid-step and turned slowly to face her. Even from where he was standing in the living room, he could see how hard she was trembling, as though her anger was about to burst out of her and bring the entire house down. That familiar, bubbling, white hot fury began to froth and foam in the pit of his stomach, but he fought it down out of pure curiosity to see what her next move would be. While he had half-expected her to back down at this point, he was caught somewhat off guard when Jayde took several long steps toward him and he backed up a few steps instinctively.

"How _dare _you walk away from me like that, when I'm telling you what a fucking asshole you've been," she snarled, her words leaving her mouth like bullets from a high-powered rifle. "You're man enough to treat me like a dog but not man enough to hear yourself criticized?" She did not leave time for him to interject and instead took another few steps closer to him. "I've stuck up for you, defended you countless times, saying 'oh, he's just grieving, it'll get better'. NO. It hasn't gotten _better_. You've gotten worse than I ever expected. And you know what the worst part about it is?" Again, she asked a question but did not leave a space for him to say anything before she continued. "You had _NO FUCKING IDEA _until I said something!" At this point, it seemed like she assumed she was on a roll and went on, shaking her head, tossing her arms again, looking slightly insane as her eyes widened. "And no! That's not even the worst part! What's worse, is that I let myself put up with it for this long!"

"Why?" he asked rather calmly. "Why put up with it if you're _clearly _so miserable here?"

Jayde tossed her hands again.

"Because you're my man, I'm your girl." She answered lightly. "Because I love you and-…"

At this, Joker laughed, a loud bark of a laugh that tilted his head back.

"Oh, _please, _Jayde. You're not my 'girl'…I'm most definitely not 'your man'. And you don't love me. You don't even know what the fuck you're talking about." Here, Joker took a few steps toward her, gritting his teeth as he felt that anger return to lick at his insides like flames. "And ya know what? You're a fucking _cunt _for talking to me like-"

Joker never got the chance to finish his sentence when Jayde swung out so quickly, he barely saw her hand move before her palm connected with the side of his face in a slap so hard, he saw stars. But almost as quickly as she had struck him, he swung out with his own hand, slapping her in the exact same place, but with such force, her knees buckled and she staggered backwards, clutching a chair at the kitchen table to keep herself standing. It seemed his impulsive action had surprised himself as much as it had Jayde and as she let out a quiet sob, he felt a stab of something unfamiliar shoot through him as he watched her reach up behind the curtain of hair that had fallen over her shoulder to gingerly touch her stinging face. He remained still and silent, wondering if he ought to walk away at this point or if he should give her the chance to launch herself at him and start tearing him limb from limb. But as she pulled her hand back down to her side defiantly, he stayed in place, forcing himself to make eye contact with her as she looked over at him with watery eyes, her right one squinting slightly from where he had hit her. A soft, defeated cry left her before she shook her head.

"I can't do this anymore," she whimpered. "I'm leaving."

Again, that nauseating anger flared up inside him and Joker took a step backwards, holding up one arm toward the bedroom.

"Fine! Go!" he shouted, watching unflinchingly as she marched past him. She disappeared into the bedroom, leaving Joker to take a seat on the couch, leaning forward to rub his stinging face heavily with both hands.

Inside the bedroom, after dazedly fumbling around the room for one of the big, black duffle bags, Jayde tore open the five drawers to the dresser, pulling as many articles of clothing as possible from inside, to stuff them haphazardly into the bag. At this point, having wrinkled clothes was the very least of her worries. Her phone charger was still plugged into the wall on the far side of the room and since it would not do her any good to leave that behind, she went to it and pulled it from the socket, bunching it up to stuff it down into the bag, amongst most of her clothes. A few random, dirty items still lay around on the floor but Jayde ignored them, figuring they weren't that important and that Joker could probably use something to remember her by once she was gone forever.

As she zipped up the bag, blinking hard through her angry tears, Jayde remembered her toiletries in the bathroom but was too anxious to leave this hell hole of a house to go and retrieve them. Joker would probably throw them away once she left and honestly, she was alright with that. Nothing mattered anymore.

With the bag packed and hanging from her shoulder, Jayde stepped out into the living room again, trying hard not to glance over to where she could see Joker sitting on the couch. But as she passed, she was not surprised when her body forced her to stop and look over to where he sat, leaned seemingly comfortably against the cushions, one arm up and rested casually along the back with one of his ankles rested across his other knee. His eyebrows raised when he looked up to meet her eyes.

"Are you waiting for me to try and stop you?" he asked scathingly. "'Cause I'm not going to." He then added with a horrible, heartbreaking smirk.

Although this was exactly why she had stopped, Jayde lied, shaking her head.

"No, I need the keys to _my _car." She bit back, holding out her hand expectantly. At this, Joker's expression fell slightly but he leaned to the side, reaching into his back pocket before producing a sparse set of keys. He tossed them to her and surprisingly, Jayde caught them, clenching them in her fist before she trudged over to the garage door and opened it, casting one last look back at him before she disappeared beyond it.

From his place on the couch, Joker's hands met together and linked in his lap, and he stared down at them as he listened to the noises of car doors opening and closing before the roar of the engine that _he _had rebuilt practically shook the entire house. The noise was beginning to fade but not for one second did Joker consider running after her. Leaving had been her decision and if that's what she wanted, then that was on her. A foolish part of him had a feeling she would return later that night, a sniveling, cold, hungry mess but the other half, the less optimistic half of him felt like that may have been the very last time he ever saw her.

_God, I wish you were here, Tre…_

The road before the Corvette blurred and disappeared momentarily as Jayde blinked hard, trying without much success to stop her tears and calm down. The past half hour seemed like a bad dream and Jayde honestly could not believe everything that had happened. Two weeks ago, if someone had told her that in a mere fifteen days, she and the Joker would be screaming at each other and that she would be the one to leave, she would have called them a liar. Leaving Gotham, she had been so resolute, so steadfast in her decision to come with him, to stay with him and be a source of comfort and unconditional love. What had gone wrong? She had promised herself not to leave him no matter what, and yet there she was, _leaving him. _Then again, on second thought, her actions were justified; Joker was not himself anymore…There was no reason for her to stay…especially now that she knew he did not consider her to be his girl anymore…For that matter, had he ever?

After driving for nearly twenty minutes, aimlessly winding her way down random streets, it slowly began to dawn on Jayde that she truthfully had nowhere to go. Returning to the house was completely and entirely out of the question, but driving to Montana to stay with Audrey was also impossible, seeing how she had no money to keep filling up the gas tank. Fortunately, the tank was already full as Joker had apparently seen it fit to supply it with gas but this could only take her so far. So after circling the same block four times, she pulled off into a small lot, parking the rumbling Corvette to bury her face in her hands and flat out cry.

It was fortunate no one could hear her as Jayde finally released all of the pent-up misery she had been holding inside since the previous night and she positively wailed as she leaned forward in the driver's seat. There was no one around but even if Jayde had been surrounded by a crowd of people, she was positive she would still feel just as alone and helpless, stuck in this foreign city. She supposed she could find a hotel to stay in for a few days, at least until she could figure something else out, but as she remembered again that she was without money or even anything valuable she could sell, she let out another howl of pain as she rested her forehead against the black steering wheel.

Then, as if someone up above had been listening to her thoughts, Jayde jumped when her phone rang, the sound muffled and muted as it sat in the bottom of her purse on the seat next to her. She sniffed heavily as she fumbled quickly for it, hating herself for hoping in a split second of stupidity that it was Joker. Of course, it was not, but as she read Dotcom's name on the caller ID, a small spasm of optimism shot through her.

"H-hello?" she asked, sounding more pathetic than she had meant to and immediately regretted answering when Dotcom replied.

"Honey, what's wrong?" he asked in a voice of genuine concern, forcing Jayde to crumple into more, fresh tears. She sniffed again, shaking her head.

"Um…I left J-" she paused; she couldn't even bring herself to say his name. "I left him," she finally explained, letting out another sob. "I tried to confront him about how he's been acting and…and he told me that…that I'm not his girl and…" At this, Dotcom cut in.

"Jayde, listen to me," he started. "Where are you?"

"Um…" Turning quickly in the seat, she looked around but could not see a street sign. "I think I'm on Lincoln avenue still but I'm in the city. I-…" Again, Dotcom interrupted.

"Ok, I'm sure you remember how to get back to the interstate that you took to get there from Gotham? I want you to get back on that but take interstate eighty to New York." He explained. "It's gonna take you about ten hours to get here but-…"

"Dotcom, I can't. I only have one tank of gas and-…"

"Do you still have that card? The debit card I gave you back in Gotham?" he asked hopefully, leaving Jayde to reach over quickly and fumble around in her purse for her small wallet. Unzipping it, she felt her stomach lurch when she spotted the gold, plastic card.

"Yeah, I have it, but I don't think there's any-…"

"I'm gonna put money on it right now. When you get low on gas, stop and fill up, get something to eat, buy some cigarettes and get to New York. You're staying with me." he explained, not putting any sort of question or request behind his instructions. A weak, watery smile met Jayde's lips as she tucked her wallet back into her purse. "I'm still doing some redecorating but I just finished the guest room so you'll have a place to stay as long as you need it. Just get here as soon as you can, ok? And call me every two hours so I know you're alright."

"Thanks, Dotcom…"

"Don't thank me, sweetie. Just be safe and I'll see you tonight."

As hard as Jayde tried and as much as she would have liked to be excited about going to New York to stay with Dotcom, the further away from Chicago she got, once she had found the interstate, the more upset she found herself. She really did have absolutely no intention of going back, _ever, _but still she did not feel as though the fact that she would never see the Joker again had really sunk in yet. But every time she let her mind wander back to the house to what he was doing, she would reach up and push lightly against the swollen lump along her cheek bone from where he had hit her then push her foot down on the gas pedal a little bit harder.

Upon pulling the Corvette onto the interstate, Jayde turned on the CD player but had jumped when a loud, heavy, metal song came on and instantly, she pushed the eject button before rolling down the window and promptly tossing the disc through it. She had watched in the side mirror as the shiny disc floated and fluttered away, catching the light as it somersaulted in the rushing air before it disappeared from sight.

Once Jayde had located an old mixed CD of her own, tucked down into the depths of the glove compartment, she put it in and let it play with the volume higher than she would have normally had it. Several times, however, she had turned it down and looked over at her phone when she could have sworn she heard it ringing, but only to feel a lick of disappointment when the only thing it said was the time. After the third or fourth time this happened, she had picked up the phone and put it on silent irritably, shoving it down into the bottom of her purse so there would be absolutely no question in whether or not the Joker was calling her. She supposed she should not have been surprised that she hadn't heard from him…It was more than likely he was fairly glad she was gone. This thought brought on another burst of anger before Jayde took the Corvette over ninety miles an hour.

For being by herself in such a small car, the afternoon passed surprisingly quickly. A few, random showers of rain had pelted the Corvette at intermittent intervals, forcing her to roll her window up and smoke her cigarette in a sealed enclosure, but she didn't care. The CD she had put in had looped several times by the time she passed the sign reading 'You are now leaving Indiana!' but she was hesitant to take it out, knowing the silence, left alone with nothing but her thoughts, would be unbearable. She had already revisited the conversation from that morning a thousand times and did not see the point in thinking her way through it again; she had already said exactly what she wanted and did not regret one word of it.

As he had requested, Jayde called Dotcom every two hours, informing him of where she was and reluctantly telling him how she was feeling but only after he asked. A few times, she lied, telling him that she was feeling better or even 'fine', but she knew he could see straight through this; there was no way she could have left the man she _thought _she loved and suddenly be completely fine. Honestly, as she thought about it, she wondered if she would _ever _be 'fine' about what had happened. It didn't seem likely at this point.

_You are now entering Ohio…_

_ You are now leaving Ohio…_

_ You are now entering Pennsylvania…_

_ You are now leaving Pennsylvania…_

_ You are now entering New York…_

"FINALLY." Jayde practically shouted aloud to herself, pressing down on the gas pedal again as she passed the sign. The sun had gone down somewhere around an hour prior…or maybe days ago…She wasn't really sure anymore. It felt as though she had been driving for days and when she thought back to how many miles away from the house at the corner of Lincoln and Platt she had gotten, Jayde felt a mix of relief and yet crushing sadness. It killed her to admit that she already missed him, but every time she considered thinking this thought all the way through, she forced her mind to something else. She did _not _miss him…She missed the way he _used _to be, but definitely felt no attachment to the person he had somehow changed into over the past few weeks.

Now that she had reached the state of New York, Jayde pulled out her cell phone again and called Dotcom for the eighth time, pressing it to her ear, hoping and praying he would say that she was now only a half hour away. It rang only once before he answered.

"Hey, girl. Where are you?" he asked instantly. Jayde glanced around through the windows but rolled her eyes when she realized it was completely dark out and there would have been no way for her to tell him, even if it had been the middle of the day.

"Um…I don't know. I passed the 'Welcome to New York' sign about ten minutes ago…" she explained. "_Please _tell me I'm close…"

Dotcom laughed. "Actually, you are. You're only about an hour or so out. When you pass the sign-…"

From there, he launched into all sorts of directions and instructions that left Jayde only wishing Joker was there to-…No, as a matter of fact, she was _glad _he was not there. She could do this on her own. So once she had hung up the phone, with an air of determination, Jayde pushed her foot down on the pedal once again but kept the speed at only eighty…It would not do her any good to get pulled over.

The bridge leading into the city was fairly empty and Jayde could not help herself but to feel slightly elated at the rather majestic sight of the city before her. There truly was no other city in the United States like New York City and if she had to choose one place to come after leaving the Joker forever, it was this. There were so many people, so many things to do and places to go that Jayde felt like she may not even have time to think about him; she was positive Dotcom would see to that…

So after calling him again to get further instructions on how to reach Greenwich Village in Manhattan, Jayde kept an eye out for a cheap garage where she could park her car for a few nights until she needed it again or could eventually sell it. She found this without much problem and after parking and lugging her bag from the back, she took her purse, locked the car and proceeded out onto the street to call Dotcom again.

Apparently, his apartment was located directly on Greenwich Avenue, just before 6th, which just happened to only be a few blocks away from where she had parked, fortunately. While Jayde was somewhat excited and enthralled by the bustling nightlife of the city and did not mind walking past all the restaurants and café's on her way to Dotcom's, the bag over her shoulder was fairly heavy and being so emotional for most of the day was taking a toll on her body now. Honestly, she didn't care if Dotcom had a bed of nails for her to lay on or a cot the size of an ottoman…as long as she could take a hot shower, smoke a cigarette, eat some dinner and go to sleep.

The revolving doors to Dotcom's brownstone apartment building caught Jayde by surprise and she wasted no time in stepping through them, walking over to a small security desk by the elevators where a young, black man stood flipping through a magazine. He looked up once he noticed someone had walked up, but then smiled warmly. Jayde returned the expression but felt it was only on the surface.

"Hi, um…I'm supposed to going up to…Andrew…" she started to explain but faltered when her stomach dropped. What was Dotcom's last name? Had he ever told her? By sheer luck, the security guard nodded.

"You're Jayde?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, he called down and let me know you were coming. You can go on up. He's on the sixth floor, apartment 6G."

"Thanks."

The inside of the elevator was carpeted in a deep, dark red color and sprang slightly under her feet as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, anxiously awaiting the moment when she could take her shoes off and get comfortable. Behind her, a huge mirror coated the entire back wall of the elevator car and after accidentally catching a glimpse of herself and the mass of tangled, frizzy curls and the dark rings beneath her eyes, Jayde turned to face the doors, keeping her back to it the entire ride up.

The same red carpet coated the floor of the hallway once the elevator had stopped on the top, sixth floor and after glancing down both ways to find the apartment numbers ascending to the left, she turned that way and had to force herself not to trot as she passed each dark, wood door.

3G, 4G, 5G…

Jayde knocked a bit more loudly than she had meant to but stood there, shifting anxiously from one foot to the other, her insides quivering from nerves and excitement when the shifting sound of locks being slid out of place reached her ears from beyond the door. A few seconds later, the door flung open and there stood Dotcom, in all his curly, red-headed, gay perfection. Tears were already welling up along the bottom of his green eyes.

Jayde's bag hit the floor with a muffled thud as she dropped it, only to throw her arms around his neck and practically launch herself into the entrance hall of his apartment, staggering with him a few steps as he embraced her tightly in return, both of them sniffling girlishly against each other's necks. Dotcom managed a laugh as they cried in mingled happiness at finally being in each others presence again, but also in mild sadness that she even had to be there in the first place. He must have sensed the real reason behind Jayde's tears as he tightened his grip around her back, shaking his head.

"I'm so sorry, honey," he told her consolingly. "I'm so sorry…"

They stood like this for nearly a full minute, in the front doorway of his apartment, her bag still laying abandoned on the floor, until Jayde finally pulled away, bringing both hands up to wipe her cheeks with the sleeves of her shirt. She shook her head, annoyed with herself for getting all emotional at the sight of her best friend and working herself back up over something she could not control.

"I'm sorry, I'm just…" she went to explain herself and the copious amount of crying she had just done but Dotcom interrupted, shaking his head to reach out and wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her further into his home.

"Don't even apologize, girl. Come in and let me make you something to eat. You _have _to be famished…"

While Dotcom dragged her bag in through the door, Jayde continued down the hallway, glancing to the right when she passed an archway leading into his magnificent brick and slate kitchen. When normally, most homes contained only one electric stove, Dotcom's had been furnished with not one _gas _stove, but _two, _complete with double-door ovens on each of them. A tall, stainless steel refrigerator and freezer stood against the far wall, tucked back into the brick…Jayde noticed he did have a microwave but it was still wrapped in plastic as though he had only bought it for a worst case scenario sort of situation.

She continued on while Dotcom immediately went to work in his kitchen but Jayde ignored this for the time being, too caught up and blown away by taking in the rest of his apartment to consider her hunger. The entire wall on the right side of the room was a beautiful brick, strangely matching perfectly with the turquoise blue color he had used on the other walls. Several large pieces of art that Jayde could remember seeing in his room at the house in Gotham had been hung on these walls and matched wonderfully with the other random sculptures and items that had been placed strategically throughout the living room. A long, jointed, posh white couch and several matching arm chairs sat in a decorative semi-circle in the middle of the room in front of a large, flat screen tv mounted to one of the blue walls, again which Jayde could remember from the house in Gotham. She had just let her eyes drop to notice the dark, wood coffee table before the couch sitting atop a shag, white area rug when Dotcom's voice pulled her away, over to a slate breakfast bar in the front wall of the kitchen.

"How hungry are you? I've got pasta…soup…salad…chicken…You name it, honey, it's here."

Jayde laughed, taking a seat atop one of the tall stools to watch him as he bustled around the kitchen, turning on burners and one of his four ovens. When she did not immediately answer, he looked over, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh, um…I'm hungry," she answered. "Surprise me."

With a flick of a wooden spoon, Dotcom nodded. "Comfort food. You got it."

As he went about pulling an unsliced loaf of bread out of the fridge, Jayde glanced around herself once more before looking back to him.

"Your place is absolutely beautiful," she commented, folding her arms on the bar to lean forward. Dotcom rolled his eyes as he glanced at her from over his shoulder.

"_Please…_It's not even done yet. Preston is supposed to be coming over with more paint samples tomorrow. I'm not completely in love with that turquoise." He explained, leaning down to pull out a small, circular skillet. "I think you'll like the guest room though. I did it like I had your room back in Gotham…" At this, he paused, turning away to pretend to be focusing on what he was doing. "I sorta had a feeling you would be coming to stay eventually…"

Silence descended but Dotcom was quick to pick up a new topic, clearly anxious to keep Jayde's mind as far away from the Joker as possible. He turned to her, raising his eyebrows with a grin.

"So, I figured since I only work for a few hours in the morning, we could-…" he had been in the middle of his sentence when he suddenly gasped and marched over to the sink, leaning over it toward the breakfast bar where Jayde sat, wide-eyed and concerned at the shocked expression on his face. "What the _fuck _is that?" he asked loudly, pointing now at the side of her face, below her eye. At first, Jayde frowned in confusion, but even just as she made that expression, a small twinge of pain told her exactly what he was referring to. She reached up, pressing her finger to the tender, new bruise along her cheekbone.

"Oh, um…" she started, quickly trying to think of a lie. But when she could not, she rolled her eyes, begging herself not to start with the tears again. "Yeah, I slapped him and…well, he slapped me back." She eventually explained, letting out a short, quiet laugh, although she found it far from funny. Apparently, from the mildly shocked, somewhat angry expression on Dotcom's face, he agreed with her. He huffed irritably as he turned back to the stove, shaking his head.

"Oh my _god…_What a-…I mean…Seriously…Like…I don't even know what to-…_Jesus…_" he muttered the beginnings to several different sentences huffily to himself but did not seem able to complete them. After multiple tries, he sighed, looking back over to Jayde. "Well, I'm glad you're here now."

A halfhearted smile met her face before she nodded in partial agreement. "I am too."

Within minutes, Dotcom had whipped up the most comforting dinner possible and was soon walking over with a small plate and bowl, containing one gourmet version of a grilled cheese sandwich and that famous, soul-warming tomato soup she never gotten around to trying to make. When she noticed what was in the bowl, her eyes widened and she looked up at him in surprise. He grinned.

"I started making it this morning after I talked to you," he explained, winking at her once before he walked back to the kitchen to clean up. Jayde honestly felt like crying again at his kindness and thoughtfulness but the loud growling from her stomach was more powerful.

After eating to her heart's content, Jayde helped Dotcom by rinsing her plate and bowl but left them in the sink when he told her not to worry about it and that she should go take a hot bath. Quite truthfully, nothing in the whole world sounded more inviting so after digging around in her bag for a pair of pajama pants and shirt that she had hopefully managed to pack in her rush to leave the house, Jayde locked herself in the master bathroom inside Dotcom's room. But of course, like the rest of the house, it was absolutely stunning so for the first few moments, Jayde stood in the middle of the room, admiring the crème colored walls, white-wooden cabinetry and the huge, antique-style bathtub against the far end of the room.

Once undressed, with the tub nearly filled to the appropriate level, Jayde tried hard not to look at herself in the mirror in order to avoid seeing the light bruise on her cheek but a knock from the door caused her to jump slightly.

"Yeah?"

"If you want some smellies to put in the water, just open the cabinet next to the shower!" Dotcom informed her before she heard him walk away, leaving her to wonder whether or not she cared for anything else in the water besides herself. However, her curiosity was killing her to see what sort of good-smelling bath products he had stocked up on.

Of course, Dotcom had collected a vast array of aromatherapy oils and bubble-bath powders and for several minutes, Jayde stood there, taking down each bottle to uncap it and take a deep breath of each scent. Most of them were minty or smelled of jasmine but once she had found a bottle of warm, vanilla scented oil, she took off the cap and sprinkled several eye-droppers full into the water. Hopefully, the warm, comforting scent would help ease some of the tension and hurt still floating around inside of her.

The water was almost too hot to bear but Jayde lowered herself into the tub anyways, ignoring the tingling sensation that spread through her body by taking deep breaths of the vanilla fragrance. A slow sigh escaped her lips as she slid down the slanted back of the tub until she was practically laying down, her chin just barely above the water. Her eyes closed for a few seconds to enjoy the peace but it was not three seconds later before they were open again and staring down at her legs, eyeing the oddly shaped, circular bruises on the insides of her thighs. She had noticed them that morning but ignored them at first, too angry about everything else to worry much about them. Now, she found herself growing upset again and had to take another deep breath to calm down; the Joker was over seven hundred miles away…There was truly nothing else she could do but be thankful that Dotcom had not seen the marks he had left on her body after she had taken his advice.

Sitting in the bath proved useless as it only left Jayde with more open time in which to sulk and brood over the hurtful, heartbreaking words Joker had said to her that morning and the careless, nonchalant way he had just sat there and watched her walk out of his life. So she stood up, drained the water, dried off with one of the fluffy white towels on the rack before dressing in her loose, comfortable pajama pants, long-sleeved, cotton shirt and leaving the bathroom. Dotcom was sitting in the guest room when she arrived there, leaned back against the pillows on the bed, watching the weather report on the tv across the room. He looked over when he heard her shuffle in.

"It looks like it'll be pretty cold tomorrow." He stated, sitting up to move to the side and let her take the spot he had just warmed up. "I noticed you didn't bring a coat…" Jayde shrugged, shaking her head as she pulled back the thick white comforter and light lilac sheets beneath it to slide between them and lay down.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened to my old black one. I think I might have left it at my apartment in Gotham which…was raided by the police so I'm guessing it's long gone…" she explained sadly, thinking wistfully of the old, thick winter coat she had had since high school. It had gotten her through so many winters…Next to her, Dotcom was sitting Indian-style with his chin rested on his hand, his elbow rested on his knee. Jayde continued, turning onto her side to face him and close her eyes. "I left all my bathroom stuff at…his house, too. So I'll need to borrow some toothpaste from you in the morning and maybe some deodorant." She added with a quiet laugh.

"That's fine. I have to work in the morning until eleven but once I get home, I'm taking you shopping. We'll get you all new stuff and a new coat and some warmer clothes." Dotcom said rather excitedly, bouncing off the bed to round the end and walk toward the door. At this, Jayde opened her eyes, sitting up to shake her head.

"No…Dotcom, you really don't have to do that. I-…" She began, but closed her mouth when he shook his head, holding up a hand.

"I want to." He stated. "Now get some sleep, sweetie. I'll be gone when you wake up but I'll leave some breakfast for you in the oven. Sleep tight."

With that, he left her with one last kind smile and a wink before he shut the door, leaving Jayde to click off the lamp on the white wooden nightstand and scoot down into the warm, impossibly comfortable bed. As she closed her eyes, deciding to leave the tv on to help her fall asleep, she found herself hoping Joker would not be able to sleep that night. She hoped passionately he was feeling miserable, lonely and lost and with that encouraging thought to rock her to sleep, she heaved a deep sigh before she slipped off, feeling strangely excited about starting a new life, in a new city, with her newest and best friend.

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A/N: Normally, I wouldn't point this sort of thing out. But did you notice how the last chapter was oddly titled 'Calm'? And this chapter is titled 'The Storm'? Calm before The Storm? GET IT? Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter as it was probably my favorite to write so far. It was well overdue for Jayde to get in her say and I hope it lived up to your expectations. More to come soon so stay tuned and LEAVE ME A REVIEW! -QoM


	12. Night and Day

The Joker woke with a start and a short gasp, laying flat on his back on the bed, which not only happened to be the left side but also the wrong side at that. It only took a few seconds of laying there, staring up at the ceiling above him, breathing deeply and sweating slightly, to remember everything that had happened over the past forty-eight hours, but also to recall in vivid detail the dream he had been having. Normally, he was not one to dream often but after finding it difficult to fall asleep, the constant thoughts racing through his brain had carried over into his unconscious state, leaving him to wake abruptly in near panic for the second morning since Jayde's departure.

It was not the first time he had revisited the night of Tre's death in his sleep, but it was, however, the first time he did not have the luxury of rolling over to find a peaceful, stunning girl in his bed to bring him back up to Earth from the depths of his internal hell. No, he did not miss her. But he did miss the feeling of having someone else there, in the same house, wallowing and miserable with him. He supposed the old saying was true; misery really _does _love company.

This thought led him to sit up with a frustrated growl, despite the fact that the sun had only just risen a mere three hours after he had finally fallen asleep and he threw the purple bed sheet away from him. It had not been laying on him or even touching him but something about it's presence was making him angry and as he rose from the bed, it took a great deal of self control not to go over and begin ripping it into a thousand shreds.

Down the hall, once he had stepped into the bathroom and shut the door out of pure habit, Joker stepped out of his boxers, irritably flinging them across the small room with his foot before he climbed over the tub and into the shower, turning on the water as he went. Of course, being that the weather had grown so chill even over the past two days, the water came out as cold as ice at first, causing Joker to curl up and double over instinctively, shivering as he shouted "SHIT!" While he knew there was no logical reason why this should make him mad, having something to blame it on, even if only for a few seconds, felt relieving.

Honestly, Joker could not see the point in even taking a shower in the first place. Now that he was quite alone, he could realistically let himself go for another week, could let himself stink as foully as he wanted to without worrying about offending anyone. But seeing how he hated the feeling of being dirty and smelly and felt disgusting when his hair got stringy and greasy, he figured he would have to keep up with his hygiene…unless he wanted to slip further into a deeper state of depression…or whatever it was he was feeling…

As he lathered his hair generously, Joker's eyes fell to the far corner of the shower, to the half-empty bottle of coconut and vanilla scented shampoo rested there upon the ledge of the tub against the tiled walls. Part of him wanted to lean down and pick it up, bring it to his face and take a deep, long sniff of the warm, familiar scent, but the other half of him felt like snatching it up and throwing it and everything else belonging to Jayde in the garbage once he got out. Then again, Joker's mind had yet to wrap itself around the notion that she really was gone and that same, foolishly hopeful part of him felt like he should keep it…just in case she came through that door at some point that day…

…Or the next day…

…Or the next day…

A full four days after Jayde had walked out, Joker trudged out of the bedroom and into the living room, feeling more exhausted than he could ever remember feeling in his life. Sleep had yet again escaped his grasp like trying to catch smoke in his hand and after tossing and turning for several hours, managing only a few minutes of sleep at a time, he gave up and was now standing in the kitchen, staring at the closed door to the fridge with his hands on his waist. He supposed he was hungry, but making something to eat would undoubtedly require a certain amount of energy that he did not feel he possessed at the moment. Pouring a glass of orange juice, however, did not seem as daunting so he reached out to open the door, but paused when his eyes fell onto the half-finished carton of soy milk Jayde had bought for him over a week ago, sitting there on the middle shelf, taunting him.

For some reason or another, the sight of this filled him with an invigorating thrill of anger and he reached into the fridge to pull it out and walk over to the sink, uncapping it as he went. The expensive, thoughtful milk spilled out as he poured it down the drain, watching it go bitterly until the carton was empty. He then turned on the faucet and ran the water until absolutely no traces of the soy milk remained in the sink. Stupidly, he had thought this might make him feel better; it did not. Abandoning that orange juice, Joker went back to the bedroom but only to pull open his dresser drawers and yank out a pair of jeans before grabbing a thermal long-sleeved shirt, applying both before he left the room, taking the keys to the Escalade as he went.

For a Saturday morning, Chicago was surprisingly busy, which only served to irritate Joker as he pulled onto a busy street in the heart of the city, only to find himself stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. With a loud groan, he leaned back in the seat, tilting his head back to close his eyes, to take a few moments to just breathe, try and calm himself before he rammed the front end of the Escalade into the back end of the small Camry in front of him…

Seemingly days later, the sound of a loud car horn woke Joker with a start and he blinked furiously as he looked around, somewhat confused to find himself sitting in the driver's seat of the Escalade, the Camry from earlier now nearly a quarter mile down the street in front of him. The irate driver behind him laid on their horn again and with another angry groan, he pushed down on the gas pedal, the tires screeching slightly as he took off, shaking his head to himself.

_Ok, fuck this…_he thought, turning the Escalade down a side street to take the correct roads back to the house. It just figured he would fall asleep mere minutes after getting out…

And just as he had mentally predicted upon pulling into the driveway, the second he lay down in the bed to close his eyes, they flew right back open to focus unblinkingly on the empty, white pillow across from him. From his very first night alone, Joker had noticed one single, long, curly black hair laying delicately across the pillow and the fact that it was still there baffled him. He would have thought his constant tossing and turning would have blown it away or even moved it to lay on the bed or on the floor, but it stayed, almost in the exact same position as the first time he noticed it. At first, he had wondered suspiciously if Jayde had plucked it from her head to lay it there, just to taunt him and force him to think of her every time he rolled over to an empty bed. Although upon second thought, this seemed a little paranoid and Jayde did not seem capable of thinking much further than getting herself out the door, into her car and away from the house as quickly as possible.

Joker could have said he didn't blame her, but he did. He had felt things were less than satisfactory between them but did not feel as strongly about it as she did. Sure, he had left the house rather abruptly after their more intimate moments, but only because…well, he wasn't really sure why…Something about laying there, hugging and kissing her until they fell asleep just felt…_wrong. _He supposed it was because he associated those times with something he could label as 'happiness' and as of late, happiness or even the feeling of being content has not been present in his life whatsoever. Perhaps he felt as though laying there, holding her, kissing her and pretending to be enjoying it would have been the most extravagant form of lying possible and as he had said many times, he _hated _liars. But then again, maybe lying would have been the perfect thing to do, seeing how he fucking hated himself lately.

For nearly an hour, Joker lay there with his back to Jayde's pillow, forcing himself to keep his eyes closed and his thoughts as far away from her as possible. This strategy would work for several minutes at a time, before some random memory, some arbitrary thought would lead him back to her and he would find his eyes wide open again, to avoid seeing her in his mind's eye. One of these instances led him to wonder wildly where she had actually gone when she left. He knew she did not have any money and only one tank of gas, which limited her options so severely, he would have been shocked if she had even considered leaving the city. Montana was out of the question, due to the one tank of gas dilemma, there was nothing left in Gotham for her, seeing how she was wanted there, which left only one option for her; New York. He could not see how she could have made it across three state lines without running her car into the ground but if there was one person who more than likely knew where she was, it was Dotcom. Joker thought of his phone lying on the kitchen table then remembered how Jayde had taken her own phone with her…Technically, he _could…_

"No." he actually went so far as to say this out loud to himself, as though the firmness in his voice had the ability to talk him down out of such a stupid idea as calling Jayde. She had been very direct in the words she had spoken to him that one morning and had even gone so far as to not only call him an asshole but to _slap _him in the face. Granted, he _had _called her a cunt and…he _had _ hit her back.

Joker groaned, crossing his arms across his stomach to curl in upon himself slightly when he thought back to the sensation that had shot through his body upon watching Jayde stagger backwards to clutch that chair at the table. If he thought about it hard enough, he could still hear the soft, broken sob that had left her when she brought her hand up to clutch the side of her face. But allowing himself to reminisce on that _one _instance where he had hit her only proved to make him more angry so he forced his mind away from it once again. Yet still, the question remained, nagging at him like a tiny dog biting his ankles…where did she go?

Rising from the bed in a fluid motion, Joker walked right through the doorway, out into the living room and over to the kitchen table deftly, resolution in his steps. However as he reached out for the phone, his fingers curled inward toward the palm of his hand as though his body was protesting the action instinctually. He took a step back from the table, bringing his arm down to his side to straighten out his shoulders and take a deep breath, staring down at the device. He could turn around, just then, and walk away, force himself to get busy and forget about it. He could pretend he didn't _care _where she went and hope that she had died in a fiery car accident on the way there…As soon as that thought flew through his mind, Joker reached out, taking the phone from the table to walk over and step outside through the front door, taking a seat in Tre's old chair, now his new favorite place to sit.

It made him feel a little bit better that he did not know Jayde's number by heart and it helped give him a few more moments to consider whether or not he really wanted to go through with this while he searched for it through the call log. It was the first 712 number he spotted but as the small blue bar highlighted the number and asked him 'call Jayde?', Joker paused, staring down at the screen of the phone, asking himself the same question.

_Fuck it…_

After pushing the green button and pressing the phone to his ear, Joker felt his stomach clenching up and hated himself for mildly hoping she would answer, but then hated himself even more for feeling slightly disappointed when a familiar, robotic female voice answered immediately.

'_You have reached the voice mailbox of…seven, one, two…'_

Pushing his thumb down on the red button, Joker let out a somewhat relieved sigh, unsure of whether he wanted to feel thankful that her phone had been turned off, or angry that she had made it that way. Of course, there was still one more call he needed to make…Fortunately, this one was much easier.

Dotcom's number was easily recognizable, as he had saved it under 'Faggot' and after locating it, he quickly pressed the speaker of the phone against his ear a second time. Again, he felt a slight pang of relief when it began to ring.

After three repetitions, where Joker was positive Dotcom was staring at the caller ID, wondering whether or not he ought to answer it, the ringing ceased and a familiar, human voice answered.

"Hello?"

Joker wasn't sure how, but this question had caught him off-guard and he stammered awkwardly when he realized he wasn't sure what to say.

"Uhhhhhhey…" he eventually growled, squeezing his eyes shut to press his thumb and pointer fingers against his eyelids. There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"…Hey," Dotcom answered, his voice rather quiet. He paused again, but when Joker did not speak, he continued. "I heard about…the other day."

At this, Joker rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure…" he grumbled, feeling about two seconds from hanging up. But he pushed on, knowing if he did not find out where she had gone, it would drive him crazy. "Have you uh-…have you heard from her or seen her?" he forced himself to ask, hating his own guts for hoping his answer would be yes. Surprisingly, Dotcom's response was fairly light.

"Yes, actually. I'm sitting across the room from her," he explained, his voice clearly trying to rub it in. Joker wanted to kill himself when he realized it was working and that he felt the slightest bit jealous of Dotcom at the moment.

"Oh…" Here, he cringed as he went on. "Can I…talk to her?"

Dotcom hmm-ed and Joker could just picture him tilting his head to the side to glance over at Jayde in the gayest way possible. "I dunno, let me ask her." Then, it seemed as though he lowered the phone as his voice sounded distant. "_He wants to talk to you."_ He said to her, and Joker strained his ears but did not have to try hard to hear her response.

"_NO. Tell him to call back at 'never o'clock', or 'never hundred hours' if he would rather use milit-"_

Dotcom returned to the phone and sighed into the microphone, only irritating Joker further as he ground his teeth so hard inside his mouth, he could swear they were all breaking.

"She um-…doesn't wanna-," he began to explain somewhat solemnly but Joker cut him off.

"YEAH. I heard." He snapped, but then ended the call abruptly, only to bring the phone down, rise from the chair and go back inside, slamming the door behind him loudly as he went. If she was really serious about never talking to him again, then he would move on in a _big _way. And since there was really only one way to do that, Joker went right back into the bedroom, changed his clothes and grabbed the keys to the Escalade.

On the other side of town, where Joker and Tre formerly conducted a high volume of upper-class business, sat a swanky, old-school but very expensive and classy piano lounge and bar, called Ivory. Back in the day, the two brothers had lovingly referred to this place as the 'hunting grounds' as it was always, reliably filled to overflowing with rich, classy yet fairly slutty younger women, who only went out to be hit on and bought drinks by rich, classy men. Of course, Joker and Tre had always gotten a great kick out of this and almost always ended up leaving with one, sometimes two, maybe even three girls at a time. Whether they all made it back to the house varied by circumstance, but as Joker parked the Escalade out front and tucked the keys into the pocket of his black, pin stripe pants, he smirked to himself. If luck was on his side this evening, it would not be long before he could not even remember what Jayde's name was.

Being that it was a Saturday night, Ivory was nearly full to capacity and Joker had to squeeze past several people as he stepped inside, the classic sound of jazzy piano meeting his ears instantly, just over the din of voices and clinking of glasses. He recognized the song as 'Stardust' and instantly made his way toward the bar, figuring that even if he did not end up meeting anyone that caught his attention, he would simply sit, have a drink and listen to the piano anyways. Jazz had always had a calming affect on him, as strange as it may sound and he never hesitated to turn on that particular radio station back in Gotham when he felt he needed to unwind.

The area around the circular bar was crowded but at this point, Joker did not mind and simply nudged his way through, muttering forced, polite 'excuse me's' as he made his way to the counter, leaning on it with both of his black coated forearms once he reached it. As he had expected, the bartender was plenty busy with other drink orders and for several minutes, Joker stood there, watching the people across from him, laughing and talking comfortably with each other as they sipped their wine or brandy, seemingly without cares or worries. Honestly, Joker envied them, but only for their apparent sense of carelessness and contentment.

Finally, after several minutes, the bartender glanced over in his direction so he held up a finger, beckoning the man toward him, waiting until he got close enough to hear him before he leaned forward slightly, giving him his drink order of a simple glass of scotch. The man seemed a bit relieved that this had been all and hurried off to fetch their top bottle of the amber, warming liquid to pour a rather generous amount in a short glass before he brought it back and set it down on a cocktail napkin before him.

Joker did not thank him, but instead turned away, bringing the glass to his lips to take a small sip before he looked over the room, searching with his eyes for a quiet, unpopular corner where he could sit and survey. As of yet, he had not spotted anyone that had caught his eye or even anyone that appeared to be alone, as most of the women in this place were firmly at the side of a man. He supposed getting himself into a fight at a jazz piano lounge seemed perfectly in character but he was not in the mood; he was there for a different, greater purpose.

Finally, over to the left of the gorgeous, black grand piano, situated in the middle of a raised platform, Joker spotted a small, two person leather booth, where if he sat in the middle, he might not appear so pathetic and alone. Of course, if he had it his way, he would not be alone for very long and was soon taking a seat at the booth, leaning against the high back and to the side to sit slightly angled and twirl the short glass with his fingers slowly. The pianist was actually quite good and for several minutes, Joker found himself slightly mesmerized by watching the man's fingers dancing along the keys, weightlessly, effortlessly, creating perfect, relaxing music as they went. The new song, he recognized as an improvised version of 'Night and Day', a classic by Frank Sinatra. Of course, he knew every word but forced himself not to think of them, knowing exactly who they would remind him of.

"_Night and Day…_

_you are the one…_

_Only you beneath the moon,_

_And under the sun…_

_Whether near to me or far…_

_I think of you…_

_Night and Day…"_

Gradually, as Joker sat there, slowly taking random sips of his scotch, he began to feel the somewhat familiar sensation of being watched start to creep up on him and he pulled his eyes forcefully away from the piano to glance about the room. At first, he had partially expected to find several police officers staring him down, probably wondering what the _fuck _the Joker was doing there, but instead, his eyes took his attention directly across the room to a booth very similar to his, where a young, light-skinned black woman sat, watching him. The tips of her fingers rested lightly against the stem of her wine glass but of course, the moment he locked eyes with hers, she looked away, blinking several times as she turned her attention to the piano, clearly embarrassed for having been caught staring. Joker's lips tightened to fight off a smirk as he too looked away, wondering idly how long he should keep his attention away before looking back.

The song had ended and the pianist was now beginning another, which Joker did not recognize this time, so once the man had gotten several bars into the new song, he looked back over, unsurprised when the young woman quickly looked away again. However, this time, he did not look away and instead kept his eyes on her, smirking until she again looked to him. He needed only wait a few long moments before she again turned her face to look at him, only to grin girlishly and look down at the glass of white wine on the table before her. A piece of her loose, wavy weave fell into her face but she pushed it back when she looked up again. Joker's smirk expanded as he leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table to bring up one of his hands and beckon with his pointer finger, hoping she would not be too shy to come and join him.

To his surprise, the girl did not need much coaxing and promptly stood up from her table, bringing her glass of wine and black clutch hand bag with her. As she stood, she paused to adjust the bottom of her dress, leaving Joker to notice how tight the material was around her thighs and yet how loose and easily removable the top of the dress appeared. The short sleeves fell to her mid upper arm and sat off her shoulders, showing off a set of lovely collarbones and long, slender neck, atop which sat a very exotic, beautiful face that Joker found himself enjoying more the closer she grew. It was not long before she was standing in front of his table, looking slightly nervous and shy. She smiled down at him, her lips parting across her dazzling white teeth as she shifted from one impossibly high heel to the other.

"Hi," she greeted him, her voice soft but loud enough for him to hear her over the piano and other voices in the lounge. Joker smirked up at her charmingly. True, he had not done this in a few years, but he felt it was a little like riding a bike.

"Hi," he replied, but then arched an eyebrow playfully. "Although, I'm sure you didn't walk all the way over here to just say _that, _now did you…" he went on to say somewhat slyly, but when the girl's shyness seemed to deepen at his statement of the obvious, he motioned to the space next to him as he slid further along the seat. "Please sit with me, wont you?" he then asked politely, which seemed to diffuse the slight tension.

As the girl sat, she set her glass of wine down, which Joker noticed was nearly empty. He motioned to it and looked over at her to raise his eyebrows, trying to ignore the fruity, somewhat obnoxious perfume she was wearing.

"Can I get you another glass?" he asked, but the girl shook her head, giggling quietly.

"Oh, no, thank you," she politely declined, shaking her head before nervously tucking a bit of her soft-looking weave behind her ear. "So what brings you here?" she went on to ask, clearly feeling more bold now that she was sitting there next to him…Joker wondered if she had spotted his scars yet or if the lighting was just dim enough to prevent that. His eyes locked onto hers but then shifted back to the piano.

"I suppose you could say I'm a fan of jazz," he answered. "I haven't been here in years and…just thought I'd pay it a visit." Surprisingly, none of this was a lie. The girl nodded her understanding, but then looked over to the piano as well, watching the man's fingers for a few seconds while Joker studied the detail of her profile. Her eyebrows were perfectly arched, above deep brown eyes and a beautiful complexion, complete with two full, but not huge lips. "And what brings _you_ here?" he went on to ask her in return, leaning toward her slightly to keep his voice low and yet still be heard. "And more importantly, how is someone like _you_ here without someone like…_him." _ At this, he pointed at a seemingly snobby, but well-dressed white man, in a clean cut suit and crisp haircut standing only a few feet from where they sat. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Guys like him are usually why girls like me avoid places like this," she explained smartly, grinning when Joker's eyebrows raised, somewhat impressed with her unforeseen level of intelligence. "I don't know. For some reason, tonight felt right for a little piano and wine."

Joker nodded an understanding but then looked back over to the girl, glancing her upper half up and down once or twice. "Ya know, I don't think you told me your name, miss." He then told her, his voice low and deep, once again pulling out the dusty stoppers on his charm bottles. The stranger beside him looked over, but only to return the gesture and glance him up and down a few times before she grinned somewhat sassily. She seemed to be hesitating, so Joker went on, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned toward her again slightly. "You could just make one up if you don't want to tell me…"

Surprisingly, the pink tip of the girl's tongue just barely touched the inside of her full upper, glossy lip before she grinned playfully from around it. "Jasmine," she finally told him honestly, but then continued, her voice softer and more airy now that she realized where he was going with this. "Now you have to tell me yours."

Joker arched an eyebrow, sitting up a bit more straight to glance past Jasmine toward the door before he looked back into her eyes, lowering his head slightly. "Promise you wont laugh?" he asked in a flirtatiously joking manner, smirking when Jasmine giggled, nodding her head. "I'm Kieron." At this, Jasmine's eyebrows arched more severely when she frowned.

"Why would I laugh at that?" she asked, searching his face when he shrugged.

"Well, it's not nearly as pretty as yours. I just figured you might think it's kind of…lacking." He explained, the tone of his voice and the softness and yet intensity of his eyes still working to seduce the living daylights out of this strange yet sinfully attractive black girl. She seemed oblivious to his attempts. As she giggled again, shaking her head, Joker grinned, watching as she drained the last sips of wine from her glass.

"Actually, your name is pretty sexy, if you ask me." she admitted truthfully. Whether that was just her nature or the wine talking, Joker was not sure. Nevertheless, he grunted a laugh, picking up his half empty glass of scotch to take another sip.

"You're too kind," he replied once he had set it back down. Jasmine giggled, resting her hand on his forearm.

"I'm serious!" she stated further, as though 'Kieron' had not believed her. "It's a unique name, I've never heard it before. It's sexy and…_really _suits you."

At this, Joker had to try hard not to stifle a loud laugh at her blatant attempts to hit on him and instead, he shook his head, reaching down to the space next to him to pat his coat.

"Well, I could really use a smoke," he began, picking up his coat to place it across his lap, meanwhile noticing a vague look of slight disappointment mingled with a bit of disgust cross Jasmine's features.

"You smoke?" she asked, clearly hoping he had been joking or was otherwise going to say no, despite the fact that he had just admitted he could use a cigarette. So he obliged, grinning as he shook his head.

"No, you caught me," he admitted falsely. "I was just making an excuse to get outside where we can talk and not have to yell." He then lied, but figured it worked to his advantage when Jasmine let out another increasingly annoying giggle before she slid out of the booth on the other side of him, tucking her clutch handbag under her arm against her side. As he rounded the table toward her, he was somewhat surprised at how tall she was. Barely a few inches shorter than him, at a full six foot four, she easily stood six foot one, but then again, she was in heels…Joker was positive she would be much shorter once she took them off…

After offering her the crook of his arm, and once Jasmine had slipped her hand between his side and elbow, the two meandered their way through the crowded lounge, over toward the door where they both paused to apply their coats before stepping out into the cold, Chicago night air. With the time nearing ten-thirty, the sun had long since gone down, however, it was somewhat astonishing how much brighter it was out on the sidewalk in front of the club, versus inside, where the only lighting included a large spotlight on the piano and mere tea light candles on each of the tables. Joker exhaled heavily as he slid his hands into his pants pockets, watching as his breath disappeared on a vague cloud of condensation before he glanced over to Jasmine a foot or so from him, to find her staring openly at the side of his face. This normally irritated him to the point of snapping but Jasmine was pretty and if he played his cards right, he might end up finding out just how short she really was without those heels on…He smirked as she looked away quickly when he caught her staring.

"You don't have to pretend you don't see them, dahling," he told her charmingly, with a bit of that unavoidable Chicago accent falling through, in reference to his scars as he turned to face her. "I'm used to people staring." _THAT'S the truth…How does she not recognize me?_

Jasmine seemed a little flustered and embarrassed, unsure of what she could say to change the subject so Joker stepped toward her, reaching down to take her hand and rest it lightly against his cheek, hoping she would not pull it away once she felt the jagged, slightly raised skin around the scar beneath her fingers. Luckily, she seemed intrigued and Joker watched her exotic features as her eyes followed the movement of her fingers, tracing their way from the top of the scar toward the corner of his mouth. A small shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature caused her to wiggle slightly before she pulled her hand away, frowning up at him.

"Do-…" she began, but paused, clearly wondering whether or not it would be rude to continue her question. But when Joker kept his expression soft, his eyebrows raised expectantly, she continued, clearing her throat quietly. "Do they hurt?" she finally asked, her eyes darting all over his face, from his eyes down to his lips, to the scars and back up again.

Joker could remember very vividly being asked this question by only one another girl and before he could stop himself, in his mind, he was back in time, standing beside the lake on the Maroni property, Jayde's small hands on either side of his face. A short, small pang shot through him but he ignored it, forcing himself to smirk down at Jasmine as she waited for an answer.

"No," he replied, then paused, his gaze bouncing back and forth between Jasmine's eyes. There was an unmistakable hint of desire in them so he grinned, taking another step toward her. "Here, let me show you." And with that, he leaned down kissing her lightly on the cheek, before he pulled back only slightly to stare deep into her eyes.

"See? That didn't hurt at all, did it…"

Joker hated himself for quickly remembering the silly, girly smile that had spread over Jayde's face when she got the gist of this joke. Apparently, Jasmine also understood this but did not grin or even giggle the way the last girl to hear this line had. Instead, she let her tongue slip out to lick her lips rather hopefully, eyeing his in that certain way that _normally _sent Joker reeling.

A second later, their lips met and locked somewhat heatedly, Jasmine's hands immediately reaching for the edges of his coat while Joker's fingers curled around her curvy hips to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him gently. But as Jasmine kissed him roughly, practically forcing her tongue into his mouth, it took a great deal of effort to keep himself from pulling away with a somewhat disgusted cringe. He was not used to those sort of kisses and was finding himself disliking it more and more by the second…Fortunately, Jasmine pulled back and looked away awkwardly, tucking a bit of her yaki weave behind her ear as she bit down playfully on her bottom lip. Joker forced a grin onto his face.

"I should um-…probably be going…" she muttered, glancing behind her to the remainder of the sidewalk and the dark streets it led to. Here, Joker noticed his opportune moment and jumped at it; he had come out, seduced a perfect stranger and he would be _damned _if he went home with nothing to show for it.

"You didn't _walk _here, did you?" he asked incredulously, arching an eyebrow when Jasmine turned back to face him, nodding her head sheepishly. "Well, I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't offer you a ride home. After what happened to that girl a few weeks ago, you can _never _be too careful…" _How ironic…_

Jasmine smiled and nodded her head, following him over toward the Escalade to climb inside without even the slightest shred of hesitation, which Joker found to be a little moronic. He could have been _anybody…_Why, he could have been some cold-hearted, mass-murdering, multi-state-wanted, _killer_!…_Oh, wait. That's right…I am. _

Jasmine seemed very relieved to be sitting in an Escalade and appeared rather proud of herself for her pick of the night, clearly thankful that 'Kieron' had not led her over to some beater of a car. Like Tre loved to say…_It ain't trickin' if ya got it. _Joker thought of this and smirked to himself, forcefully ignoring the pang of heartache that shot through him when his mind replayed a clip of his best friend's voice, as if to purposely hurt him when he was feeling slightly better.

Fortunately, Jasmine's apartment building was fairly close, which explained how she was able to walk to the lounge in those heels, and once Joker had parked the Escalade on the street in front of the building, he leaned forward slightly, glancing up at the building through the passenger window. Jasmine seemed be struggling with something in the seat beside him.

"Do you…" she paused, as if giving herself time to reconsider. "Do you want to come upstairs?"

Joker smirked. _Yep…she wants it. _His eyebrows arched as he leaned toward her slightly, resting his elbow on the center console between them, letting his gaze bounce up and down from her eyes to her lips several times.

"Do _you _want me to come upstairs?" he asked, his voice deep yet playful. Jasmine grinned, her full lips parting to reveal those white teeth again.

"I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't want you to…"

Despite the deepening color in Jasmine's cheeks, her reply was very smooth, which tipped Joker off to the fact that she was obviously very experienced in this particular situation. Without hesitation, he got out and followed her to the front doors of the building, hoping she realized without making him explain that this was most definitely a one-time occurrence. If he had it his way, and more often than not, he did, she would never see him again and he would disappear almost immediately once everything had been said and done.

The elevator ride to the third floor was nearly silent and mildly awkward, being that it was so short and barely left them time to even look at each other before the doors were sliding open again, revealing a long, brightly lit hallway. Being that he had no idea where he was going, Joker politely allowed Jasmine out of the elevator before him and followed her down most of the hall until they reached a door with the number 8 posted below a peephole. While Jasmine fished around in her handbag for her keys, Joker waited patiently, trying to distract himself from the growing sense of strange foreboding and the even more alien sense of guilt floating around inside him, gaining intensity with every second that passed. He was not sure why the hell he would be feeling guilty, seeing how he was not committed to anything or any_one _for that matter and that the one person who might hate what he was doing was over seven hundred miles away. Despite all that, he still could not help but feel like he should _not _be there as he followed Jasmine into her small, one bedroom apartment.

To his surprise, it was not decorated like he had been expecting and was instead somewhat bare, as though she had just moved in and had not had the chance to make it presentable. This did not bother him in the slightest however, but rather wished there had been something he could have mentioned or asked about to distract her and more importantly himself. As he slid out of his coat and sat down on a couch near the windows against the far wall, Joker watched as Jasmine stepped out of her heels, keeping her eyes fixed on him the entire time, almost like a lioness eyeing her prey. Joker could not kid himself into pretending he didn't like the way this turned him on.

"So are you gonna come sit with me or what?"

Jasmine took him up on his somewhat sarcastic invitation immediately and sauntered over to him, swinging her hips a bit more than was necessary until she reached him, folding her knee to sit facing him on the couch. But Joker shook his head, tisk-ing quietly as he reached over to grip her thigh, using his thumb to move her dress up covertly.

"Oh, my apologies..." He growled, leaning over press his lips lightly against her neck, before he continued. "By 'sit _with _me', I meant 'sit _on _me." With that, he tightened his grip, using his other hand to guide her hips toward him until she straddled his lap, her knees on either side of him. He hummed contentedly, sliding his hands up from her hips along her deep hourglass figure but had to force himself not to frown when he noticed how different this woman felt against his hands.…almost like wearing a shoe on the wrong foot or driving a new car. Jasmine did not seem to notice his shift in mood as she leaned down, closing the distance between them to practically attack him with her lips. Joker nearly cringed again…These lips were a bit fuller than he was accustomed to and the strength with which she kissed him was already doing wonders to dampen that rush of arousal he had felt watching her take her heels off.

Despite the way his body was screaming at him that this was wrong, that this did not feel right, that something important was missing, he continued, patiently opening his mouth to allow Jasmine's aggressive tongue to explore. His heart gave another pang of longing ache when he imagined the way Jayde used to kiss him, how soft and tentative she was, almost shy with her movements as though kissing him too roughly would make him mad. He could remember so clearly each and every instance where she had walked up to him, rose up onto her very tip toes to place her hands on either side of his face and kiss him, once, lightly, right on his lips before she would walk away, leaving him aching to taste her. Jasmine was proving to be the polar opposite of all this and the longer he allowed himself to endure it, the more he found himself _hating _it. But again, he reminded himself of the main purpose of even going out in the first place…to get some foreign pussy and _forget about Jayde. _

Jasmine pulled back from Joker's lips, giving him only a second or two to breathe before she was back, sliding her tongue into his mouth again although her hands moved from his shoulders to the front of his white dress shirt where her fingers expertly moved to begin unbuttoning from the second button, down, parting the material as she went to rake her nails deeply against his chest as if that was supposed to turn him on. If Joker was being perfectly honest, it actually hurt just a little and he hissed, pulling away from her lips to open his eyes and glare at her. Jasmine giggled playfully, apparently mistaking his expression for that of pure lust and she continued, this time leaning forward to tilt her head to the side and press her lips against Joker's neck, just below his jaw.

Oh, fuck…

At this, Joker let out a completely natural groan, sliding his eyes shut to tilt his head to the side and reward her with more room for finding his weak spot. His body began to tingle slightly, his hands moving from either side of her ribs, back down her curvy figure until they rested on the outside of her thighs. He was _so _tempted to pull her hips down and grind himself against her, but again, for reasons that were beyond him, he refrained.

"_Have you ever slept with a black girl?" _

These words hit the back of Joker's mind like a semi-truck, the clarity of Jayde's voice so haunting and real, he could have sworn she was sitting in the window behind him. Jasmine's hands were now hurriedly untucking the front of his shirt from his black, pin-striped pants, breathing down his neck and making the task of thinking clearly that much more difficult. Joker wanted this, he really did, but with Jayde's voice now ringing in his mind's ears, that tingling sensation was gone and every movement of Jasmine on his lap, every second her hands were on him felt wrong and practically disgusted him to the highest degree.

"Jasmine…" he said, his voice flat and perfectly level, hoping to get her attention. Either she had not heard him, which seemed unlikely, or was ignoring him as she leaned forward, reaching down behind herself to grab his dick right through the material of his pants. "Jasmine!" Joker's hips gave a defensive buck in response but instead of allowing his body to respond, he grabbed her upper arms and pushed her off of him, fighting hard to be gentle and not actually _throw _her away from him like he wanted to. He stood up from the couch abruptly, breathing somewhat heavily and staring down at her wide-eyed as though his actions had even surprised himself. Jasmine was frowning up at him confusedly.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked, her voice already carrying a note of hurt to it as she watched him bring a flustered hand up to run through the front of his hair. He shook his head, clearing his throat awkwardly, absolutely _mortified _with himself for making this decision.

"I um-…" he began, not even bothering to button his shirt back up as he walked over to the table where he had dropped his coat. "I have to go. I uh-…yeah, I gotta go. I can't…I…"

"What?" Jasmine asked again, rising from the couch now to walk toward him as he opened the door to her apartment. "Why not?"

Now halfway through the door, Joker paused, turning back to face her. "Uhhhhhmmmm…I'm married. Gotta go!" And with that, he shut the door behind him quickly, walking briskly down the hall toward the elevator to escape from this building just as quickly as he could.

Back in the Escalade, once he had started it, Joker pushed his foot down on the pedal to drive away as quickly as possible and did not stop until he reached the house and pulled into the driveway. He half expected to turn in his seat and find that Jasmine had followed him there, but as he actually did this, he sighed when not only the back seat of the car was empty but the street beyond it was as desolate as ever. With a loud groan, he leaned forward, gripping the top of the steering wheel with both hands to let his forehead meet the leather between his thumbs heavily.

This would _not_ be as easy as he had originally estimated.

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A/N: Once again, I ask a favor of you. If you do not know the lyrics to 'Night and Day' by Frank Sinatra, I recommend you go look them up. They describe Joker's situation so perfectly and I could not resist putting some of them in this chapter and even titling the chapter with the name of the song. So go have a listen, read the lyrics. I know you wont be disappointed. But I will be if you don't go listen. = ] LEAVE ME A REVIEW IF YOU WANT THE NEXT ONE OUT JUST AS QUICKLY! -QoM


	13. Futile

One, solid, wonderful, yet strangely slow week had passed since Jayde stormed out of the house back in Chicago. As much as she would have liked to say she had not looked back on her decision, it would have been a lie; not a day had passed where she did not wake up thinking about the Joker and what he had said. Although she had absolutely no plans on ever going back or even calling him, she had still been unable to keep herself from wondering what he was doing or how he was faring without her. It seemed likely that he had already moved on and forgotten about her, was probably already killing people without question and more than likely, already had some master plan in the works to destroy the police department. She couldn't say she blamed him and honestly, found herself the slightest bit envious over his incredible ability to just accept the way things were and move on.

After three days, Jayde had originally figured that the tossing and turning, the restlessness and extraordinarily strange dreams would subside, but now, as she woke after eight straight nights of this, she rolled over in the huge, warm, guest bed, wondering if she felt like getting out and placing her feet on the freezing cold hardwood floor. So in order to prolong the inevitable, Jayde turned onto her side, letting her eyes fall onto her abandoned cell phone, laying powerless on the nightstand across from her. She wondered wildly if there were any messages, text _or_voice, that she might want to hear, that might help her forget about him faster…It was likely that Audrey had called her a few dozen times, leaving multiple text messages about how worried she was, about how she needed to call her _now._ Jayde really did not want to look, with the idea that she _might_be tempted to call Joker, _just_to find out what he was doing or _just_to see if he would even answer but with her mind on hearing from Audrey, she reached over and pressed her thumb to the red, power button.

The Blackberry name and logo came up and glowed in her face, a very slow loading bar at the bottom of the screen inching along at a crawl, as if giving her time to change her mind and take the battery out again. Jayde resisted and instead watched the phone load defiantly, her heart pounding, although she did not know why; she was _only_looking to see if Audrey had called her. Several minutes later, with the phone finally loaded, Jayde watched eagerly as several text messages popped up on the home screen, along with one or two missed calls, but only from Dotcom, who had apparently been trying to reach her from work before he realized her phone was off permanently.

However, looking at the text messages, Jayde noticed that it was, in fact, only three, and they were all from none other than Charlie. Her stomach clenched uncomfortably when she wondered what lie she could make up to explain her absence from Chicago.

"_Hey,__wanna __meet __me __at __the __grocery __store? __I__ could __use __your __help__ again__…"_

Then several hours later…

"_Oh,__are__ you__ not __talking__ to__ me?__ I __see __how __it __is__… __;__)__"_

Then again the next day…

"_Jeez, __I __hope __you__'__re __ok. __Call __me! __I__ wanna __meet __for __coffee!__" _

Jayde couldn't help but roll her eyes with a grin, having almost completely forgotten about her one and only friend from Chicago and immediately opened a new text to message him back. Several times, she tried typing different excuses, each even lamer than the one before it, until she eventually realized, she might as well just tell him the truth.

"_Hey,__sorry __I __haven__'__t __gotten __back __to __you. __I__'__m __in __New __York, __staying __with __my__ friend __for __a __while__…" _

After reading and re-reading this text several times, Jayde sent it, hoping she would have time to turn her phone off again before he replied, but instead of rushing to press the red button again and hold it down, she waited…and waited…until _ding__…_Charlie had replied.

"_Why? __Are __you __ok?__" _

Jayde stared at the screen, wondering if this ought to be the time where she turned the phone off, to let him just wonder and make up his own reason as to why she wasn't there. But Charlie was a fairly smart guy, he probably already had his suspicions, so in order to placate his apparent curiosity, she began typing back, hoping to put this in the most clear, yet simple and conversation-ending way possible.

_"__Had__ a __fight __with __my__…"_

She paused here, knowing just typing the word 'boyfriend' in relation to the Joker would hurt immensely, but then again, Charlie only knew him as such and it would seem weird if she referred to him any other way.

"-_boyfriend,__ so__ I __moved __out.__" _

This time, Jayde did not re-read this particular message and instead sent it right away. It was not long before Charlie replied yet again.

"_He__ doesn__'__t __deserve __you.__" _

At this, Jayde turned off her phone. She felt it was awfully rich of him to make this observation, when he had never met her 'boyfriend', and although she agreed with him, she could not help but feel like it was not his place to say this. Sure, he had seen the way the man in the Escalade had treated her but Jayde did not feel like this entitled him to such a strong opinion…despite the fact that she _did_agree with him.

Now, Jayde _really_didn't want to get out of the bed. It hurt bad enough to have to refer to the Joker as her 'boyfriend' when he had made it perfectly clear that he was anything but that. The thought of getting up, getting a shower, getting dressed and going on about her day, pretending to be fine, pretending she was over him, just seemed daunting and exhausting, after a week of doing this repeatedly. Shopping with Dotcom and having him buy her practically an entire new wardrobe of winter clothing had helped tremendously, but of course the moment she was left undistracted, the very second she allowed her mind to wander, she was drifting back to the house in Chicago, where the Joker was doing who _knows_what…she didn't want to imagine with _whom_he was doing this.

Being that Dotcom did indeed live in such a nice apartment in one of the more high-class areas of the city and did not seem bothered by dropping the better half of a thousand dollars on her clothes and toiletries, Jayde had asked him politely how he managed to make so much money, when working only part time as a sous chef. He had gone on to explain that over the three years working for the Joker, he had been the only one of his 'employees' that had been paid for his services; he had surprisingly been compensated _more_than fairly. And since he had not had much time in Gotham to spend his money, he had saved and saved until he had managed to acquire well over a million dollars. At first, Jayde thought this information was incredibly surprising, seeing how Joker did not seem like the type to pay people, but then again, Dotcom _did_had the smarts and the means to completely dismantle Joker's operation with just a few clicks of just a couple buttons. Dotcom had also gone on to explain in great detail the art of 'electronic counterfeiting' but Jayde had not understood a word he said.

Noises of Dotcom's arrival home from work reached her ears through the door across the room, triggering a rumbling growl from her stomach. Jayde rolled her eyes at her 'Pavlov's dogs' type reaction to hearing him moving about in the kitchen. With a groan, she pushed the heavy blankets off of her, cringing when her bare feet touched the cold hardwood beyond the bed…but nothing a few slices of home-sliced bacon and sourdough bread toast couldn't fix.

Dotcom leaned forward through the arch of the breakfast bar to the short hallway where Jayde appeared, smiling and looking groggy as she shuffled toward the kitchen. He returned the grin, pushing his glasses up into the front of his curly, dark red hair as he continued to put market vegetables away in his many, hanging baskets.

"Hey, sweetie," he greeted her. "Sleep good?"

At first, Jayde shrugged, but then glanced behind her to where Dotcom had his back turned; she was glad he hadn't seen her do that.

"Uh, yeah," she responded brightly, wondering vaguely if she ought to tell him about the texts from Charlie. However, before she could continue, Dotcom turned to face her, placing one of his hands on his hip.

"Ya know…" he started, arching an eyebrow at her. "You're not very good at lying." At this, Jayde looked away to the lower corner of the cabinets but then met his eyes again before she shrugged, tossing her hands.

"I just can't stop thinking about it! It's like every time I get close to forgetting about it, something will remind me of…him." she explained, shaking her head. "And I keep having these really weird dreams and…"

Here, Dotcom cut her off, holding up a hand.

"Well, you're in luck, missy. Preston and the girls-" Jayde knew he meant 'boys'… "-wanna go out tonight over on the upper east. You're coming with us and we're gonna have a great time." Jayde shook her head, holding up a hand to protest, but Dotcom cut over her, shaking his head so adamantly, his glasses slipped down onto his forehead. "Yes. Now I've already made you an appointment at my good friend's salon. So eat something real quick then go change your clothes. There's no need to wash your hair. He'll do that for you." Again, Jayde tried to protest. And yet again, Dotcom shook his head. "Jayde, if you don't start making changes, then, _surprise!_Nothing is going to change. And if you wont do it for yourself then _I__'__m_gonna do it for you. Now go change. I'll make you some toast."

So while Dotcom busied himself with slicing several pieces from a large round loaf of French bread, Jayde shuffled herself back into the guest room, honestly feeling a bit excited about getting her hair done. It had always been one of her favorite things to go do. Of course, the moment she realized there was no one to try and impress with a new hair style, that sinking feeling returned to the pit of her stomach and she sighed heavily as she dug out a clean pair of jeans from the dresser.

At first, she had hesitated in putting her clothes away. She felt as though doing this to completion then going on to put the bag itself away in the closet, would signify the absolute end to she and Joker's 'relationship'. But after reminding herself that leaving the house had already accomplished this and that she never planned on returning or ever seeing him again, she had gone on to put the clothes away with such vigor, she had broken several plastic hangers and pulled one of the dresser drawers all the way out…she still had the bruise on her foot as proof.

Within a half hour, she had changed her clothes into something warm, brushed her teeth, eaten her toast and was now walking with Dotcom along Greenwich avenue, turning a corner onto 6th. For a Friday morning, the streets were surprisingly packed with people, all walking, all jabbering loudly to each other or on cell phones, going to and from unknown destinations. Jayde ignored the crowds for the most part, trying hard not to glance to her right as they passed a newsstand; she half-expected to see headlines reading 'The Joker strikes again!'…but of course, the newspapers all read something else. She couldn't really see how news from Chicago would be relevant in New York City.

Before long, Dotcom was steering her to the right, under a long awning, shielding the perfectly smudge-less glass store front of a very clean, very urban-chic hair salon and spa, where several stylists and clients were already inside going about business. The strangely comforting and subtle smell of chemicals reached Jayde's senses the moment the heavy glass door opened and she took a deep breath in as Dotcom led her over to a front desk. The young woman looked up, smiling warmly.

"Hi! Are you Andrew?" she asked, glancing from Dotcom to Jayde and back again, brightly. He nodded.

"Yes, I'm a good friend of Emaan's and she has an appointment to have her hair done with him, plus the works, you know, mani-pedi, eyebrows, all that." He explained with a flick of his wrist, ignoring Jayde when she quickly looked over to gawk at him. The woman soon walked away to go retrieve the owner, leaving Dotcom to turn to Jayde and smile when she took a step closer to him, turning her back to the salon slightly.

"You really don't have to do all this. I really only need a haircut, Dotcom, seriously…" She began to protest, but he cut her off, yet again, shaking his head.

"Shhhh. Just enjoy it. You need your eyebrows and nails done anyway, sweetie, _trust.__"_ He responded in as gay a voice as ever, winking at her with a giggle when she glared at him, smirking.

"Fine," she eventually agreed, folding her arms. "But I'm cleaning your entire apartment tomorrow, I'm not kidding."

After knowing Dotcom and meeting several of his friends, Jayde did not think she could ever meet a gayer man than any of them, but as the owner of the salon, Emaan, emerged from his office to walk toward them with a slight skip, both hands held aloft, she had to try hard not to laugh…She could only imagine the expression on the Joker's face if he were to meet this particular individual. She pushed this thought from her mind forcefully as Dotcom and Emaan embraced lightly to peck each other on the cheek.

"_Hiiiiii,_baby!" the salon owner practically squealed, flipping some of his black, modern-styled hair away from his prominent, feminine cheekbones. "You look _fabulous,_Andrew, and…who is _this__…__goddess?_" he then asked, turning to Jayde to grasp her hand with both of his own, his critical eyes sliding all over her face, taking in everything about her facial structure as any good hairstylist would…Jayde noticed his eyes linger for an extra second or two on her scar.

"Emaan, this is Jayde. Jayde, New York's most premiere hairstylist, Emaan," He introduced them, but Emaan was now busy studying the color and length of her hair.

"Pleasure, darling," he eventually said in a rushed, hurried voice. "Oh, come on, let's get started. I know _exactly_what you need." And with that, he took Jayde's hand with only his long fingers, holding their hands aloft as he led her over to the middle chair in the row, seating her before he pulled a sleek black cape from seemingly nowhere, swinging it slightly before he wrapped it around her neck and fastened it. "Andrew, honey?" he then called over his shoulder to where Dotcom was still standing at the front, perusing a shelf of hair products. "Go find Gabrielle, ok? You need your eyebrows done."

Apparently, within the gay community, openly pointing out one another's flaws or imperfections was not considered an insult but rather a helpful tip as Dotcom instantly hurried off to the back room to find 'Gabrielle', leaving Jayde and Emaan together in front of the ornate, free-hanging mirror before them. He leaned forward slightly, using both hands to push her nearly waist-length black, frizzy, curly hair over her shoulders to fall on either side of her face. He 'hmm-ed' contemplatively, moving her hair around in different directions, pushing some into her face before moving it again, to a different position on her head.

"So Jayde, have you ever had red in your hair, sweetie?" he asked, but before giving her a chance to answer, he continued. "Well, because you've got these bright blue eyes and this already _flawless_ ebony that I think some red pieces would just make you…POP! Whadaya say?"

"Uh…sure!" she agreed with a slight shrug. "You're the expert!"

With a delighted squeal, Emaan bounced a few times then whisked away to the dispensary, passing Dotcom who was now walking over, looking very red around his newly arched and perfectly shaped eyebrows. He raised them over the tops of his glasses as he sat down in the chair next to her.

"So?…What's he gonna do?" he asked excitedly, glancing at her hair as though expecting to see some change already. Jayde shrugged again, glancing over her shoulder toward the back of the salon.

"I don't know," she answered, her eyes widening in slight anxiety. "I don't care what he does with the color, I just don't want him to chop it all off…" A quick image of herself walking out of the salon several hours later with a short afro of curls up to her shoulders shot into her mind, followed quickly by the Joker's reaction if he were to see her like that. Of course…the second half of the sequence was irrelevant but Jayde _still _did not want more than six inches taken from the length of her hair. Dotcom shook his head dismissively.

"Oh, he wont cut any length without asking you first, don't worry."

Over the next several hours, Jayde endured much poking and prodding, combing and rinsing, styling and blow drying, before enduring the nail files and polish and eventually, the hot, face-ripping sensation of the eyebrow wax. But as she stood in front of the mirror back at the apartment, she smiled at her reflection while Dotcom did the same. When Emaan had first cut her hair, Jayde could remember sitting in the chair, staring down at the massive pile of hair on the floor, thinking _Holy__ shit, __what __have __I __gotten __myself __into__…_But once he had blown her hair straight, curling only the ends to layer and frame her oval-shaped face, to accent the subtle new red lowlights he had feathered through, Jayde realized that he had only brought the length of her hair to just below the clasp of her bra against her back and that she _really_ liked it. Dotcom, of course, had given his complete support and his most gay exclamation of 'It's _gorgeous!__'_ before paying only a fraction of what it would have normally cost him and now, there they stood in the bathroom, admiring their new polished exteriors.

Jayde's eyebrows had been waxed and plucked to perfection, giving sharp, angled arches to their shape. Dotcom's had been done the same way but in a more masculine, subtle way. He seemed very pleased with the way they _just _arched over the top of his glasses.

"I _told_ you," he began, walking back out into the bedroom to start rifling through his closet. "Emaan is the best in the city! Now…help me pick out something to wear tonight, I gotta look fierce…even though we _are _going to a…straight club…" he then added with a slight note of disdain toward the end of his sentence.

For the next hour, Jayde helped Dotcom put together different outfits, matching some of his seemingly thousands of pairs of jeans and slacks to coordinating shirts, each more fashionable and gay than the one before it. Somewhere along the lines of this, after trying to match several pairs of 'black' shirts, which turned out to be navy, Dotcom finally admitted that he was slightly colorblind when it came to dark tones, at which point Jayde giggled and told him she would help him sort out his sock drawer when the time came to do so.

After selecting a pair of acid-washed jeans, a crisp white button down which he was to leave untucked with the sleeves rolled up on his forearms and the top two buttons undone, with his studded belt, the pair moved to the guest room to find another outfit appropriate for Jayde to wear. Being that she had packed in such a hurry, Jayde had failed to bring along a few of the more expensive dresses that had remained in the bags from Gotham, but had fortunately managed to throw in a few less formal dresses, along with a few pairs of her heels…Why, she was not sure.

The first dress she pulled out was a pastel yellow that normally looked great against her skin and her formerly black hair, but seeing how it was a halter top cut and it was easily in the forties outside, such a skimpy dress did not seem fitting. The second dress was red and much too flashy for a night club. The _third_however, was _just_right. It was a black, long sleeved, off the shoulder dress that hugged her thighs several solid inches above her knees and hugged her arms from the elbows down. The moment she put it on, Dotcom gasped and clapped his hands together, 'ooh-ing' instantly as she turned around.

"Oh, _that _is perfect," he told her, nodding. "It'll look good with your coat and-…" At this, he leaned off the bed to reach down and grab the one pair of black, incredibly high, closed-toe heels she had brought that came up to her ankles and zipped up the back. "_These_ will match perfectly."

Jayde agreed.

At around eight after a light dinner of salads, Dotcom retired to the shower, saying something about having time for his 'curls to set', but made sure to warn Jayde that several of his friends would be coming over relatively soon to dip into a few bottles of wine before they set out and to let them in if he was still in the shower. Among them, he informed her, would be Preston, the tall, thin and flashy interior designer that had helped decorate his apartment. Being that the gay population in Montana had been fairly small, Jayde had never encountered a homosexual man that felt comfortable enough to actually carry a purse…and not a 'man-purse', but an actual Gucci bag, in which he kept his cigarettes, random makeup, wallet, cell phone and a can of pepper spray. Jayde had met him several days prior and liked him, but was not so fond of the way he referred to straight people.

Surprisingly, it was not long before Dotcom emerged from the shower, fortunately before his guests arrived, and he stepped into the guest room with a towel turban around his head and another wrapped snugly around him up to his armpits like a woman would to hide her breasts. Jayde could not help but laugh at him. He stopped in the doorway, placing that hand on his hip.

"What's so funny?" he asked, as though this was nothing out of the ordinary. Jayde shook her head, turning her back to him to apply her strapless bra.

"I love you," she explained with another laugh. "Your towel is too funny." A quick image of the Joker shot into her mind, reminding her of the times he would to wrap his hair up in a turban just to get a giggle out of her. She pushed the painful memories away as she turned back to him with her bra now applied, just in time for him to roll his eyes and flick his wrist.

"Well, I can't be showin' off my lady lumps!" he explained, reaching out to grab her can of mousse before promptly leaving the room. Jayde laughed, rolling her eyes but then jumped when the loud thumping of bass suddenly filled the apartment. Britney Spears was now beginning her song when Dotcom poked his head back into the room. "Gotta have some music to get the juices goin', right?" he squealed excitedly, but then bounded off down the hall, clutching his towel over his…'lady lumps'.

Before long, Jayde had put on her dress and was standing in Dotcom's bathroom, leaned over the sink toward the huge mirror, trying hard to apply a very thin layer of eyeliner along her bottom eyelid but kept smearing it and having to start over. She was growing more and more frustrated with each attempt and by the time she got one eye done, Dotcom's phone was going off on the bed, alerting him to the fact that his friends were outside the front door and obviously, their knocking could not be heard over the loud music. With a squeal, Dotcom took off down the hallway, now thankfully clothed, but only to return a few seconds later with several of his friends. Jayde turned to greet them, setting down her eyeliner pencil.

"Hey, guys!" she said, rising onto her tip toes to kiss both of Preston's cheeks as he did the same to hers…she had learned quickly that this was customary among the gays. "I'm having a hard time with my eyeliner, as you can see."

At this, Preston waved a hand, setting his purse down on the bathroom counter, before dragging the shortest member of the group, Scott, toward her. He patted Scott on the shoulder. "Scottie here is a makeup artist," he explained, pushing him into the bathroom. "And I see you got your hair done. Love it. Scottie, fix her up, please. You can use whatever is in my bag." Then Preston abruptly left the bathroom to go sit with one leg crossed daintily over the other to chit chat with Dotcom while Scottie got started on her makeup.

Scott smiled at her, extending his hand for her to shake it politely.

"Hi, sorry about him," he began, rolling his eyes. "I do his makeup for his drag shoots so he likes to volunteer me as his personal makeup artist."

Jayde shook her head, honestly a little concerned with having a 'drag makeup specialist' doing her makeup for the evening, but was not sure how to tell him that she would just do it herself…especially when he had just dumped out a heap of different eye shadows and lip colors from inside Preston's purse. It seemed as though she was stuck, crossing her fingers and praying that she would not resemble a clown once he was done.

After selecting a few shades, Scott politely asked her to close her eyes so Jayde obeyed him, but kept the conversation going, hoping to keep the awkwardness away.

"So you're a makeup artist? Wow, you guys all have cool jobs!" she exclaimed, to Scott, Dotcom and Preston, now that they weren't chatting animatedly. "I'm guessing you don't have any friends that are unemployed…" She then added, but laughed when Preston immediately squealed 'EW!'

"No, honey. You must be at least _this _employed to ride _this _ride." He explained, giggling girlishly when Dotcom swatted him on the shoulder.

While Scott continued with her makeup, Dotcom disappeared, but then only to reappear a few minutes later, expertly carrying four glasses of white wine. He handed the first two to Jayde and Scott, but then returned into the bedroom, handing the third to Preston before taking a sip of his own.

"So where are we going?" Preston piped up. With her eyes closed, Jayde heard him smack his lips loudly after he had taken a sip of his wine and she had to try hard not to cringe…she _hated _that sound…

"I figured we could go up to Scene three-fourteen for a bit then-…" Dotcom began to explain, but Preston cut across him, gasping slightly.

"EW! Why? So we can sit and view all the breeders?" he asked loudly, again forcing Jayde to hold back another cringe with difficulty. "Why don't we go up to the Velvet Room? There's plenty of guys up there and-"

As if interrupting was a 'gay thing', Dotcom cut over Preston.

"Look, Jayde just broke up with her man, so I'm taking _her_out to take her mind off of it," he explained bluntly. "_You_queers are just lucky I invited you!"

For nearly fifteen minutes, Jayde stood perfectly still while Scott worked on her makeup and after finally applying two layers of mascara, he capped the tube and stood back, admiring his work before telling her to open her eyes. At first, Jayde hesitated, once again trying to work quickly to come up with some polite way she could let him know that it was too heavy, or too bright. But as she opened her eyes and turned to face the mirror, her jaw went slack; it looked _perfect._ He must have known she would not want it to look too heavy or flashy and had resorted to using smoky grays and blacks, not allowing the shadow to come up too high on her eyelids but keeping it relatively subtle but dark to compliment the shape and color of her eyes. From the other room, Preston and Dotcom were giving their approval.

"It looks _fabulous!_"

"Scottie, you are the _best,_bitch…"

After another glass of wine each, and after Preston had informed Dotcom that a few of their other friends would be meeting them at the club, the troupe set out, bundling up in their coats and fashionable scarves, bracing themselves against the cold, bitter night air. It seemed Friday night was _the_night to go out in the city, as everywhere Jayde looked, dressed up, partially intoxicated young people moved about, talking and laughing more loudly than was necessary. Jayde watched all this, honestly a bit glad to be out and about, but still feeling as though she would really rather be back at the apartment in the warmth, tucked into the blankets and watching a movie. But of course, being back at the apartment meant thinking about Joker…so maybe being out was really the best option.

Hailing a taxi when the streets were so busy turned out to be more difficult than usual. Almost every yellow cab that passed them had it's light on, signaling that it was already occupied and every other taxi that passed didn't seem to notice Preston flailing his arm, who in turn didn't seem to notice Jayde and Dotcom giggling at him. Finally, after several minutes of shouting curses at the cab drivers that ignored them, one man eventually stopped and Jayde and her three gay companions piled into the warm car, Preston in the front seat, instructing the man on where to take them.

The wine had seemingly given Preston, Dotcom and Scott a surprising amount of energy and added volume to their voices, leaving them to laugh loudly and practically shout at each other as they talked. Jayde participated but could not help but feel like her energy might be a little lacking. She honestly did not know, at this point, what she had been thinking in agreeing to go out to a club, especially with such fun, lively people and felt now that she really might be putting a damper on their evening. Dotcom seemed to notice her forced attempts to be fun more than the others and spoke up once the previous conversation had died down.

"So Jayde," he started, leaning forward to look over at her across Scott between them. "Chances are, you're gonna be the baddest bitch at this club so if any guys try to take you home, I'm gonna have to put my foot down, ok?" he then asked, in what seemed like a partially joking manner, triggering more loud laughter from Scott and Preston. Jayde noticed the cab driver glance back at her through the rear view mirror, hoping Dotcom's prediction was not accurate. While yes, she did think that a little attention from some stranger guys at this club would help make her feel better and may even help to get her mind away from Chicago, she really did not want to fight with herself on how far was _too_far. Then again, she was not committed to anyone so 'too far' may be just far enough…

As she had privately predicted in the car ride over, the pounding music, the crowd and the dark, strobe lit atmosphere in the club helped boost her energy a bit and as she, Dotcom, Preston and Scott walked in after paying the expensive cover at the door, they made a beeline to the bar, over in the very back corner of the massive, double level night club. It seemed the entire bottom floor had been turned into one giant dance floor and as far as the eye could see, young people were grinding and dancing in ways that could have made a nun weep. Jayde had never been one for dancing, but thankfully, neither was Dotcom, so she knew she could count on him to stand right next to her and prevent her from looking like too much of a wallflower.

However, as they reached the bar, somehow over the music, Dotcom and Preston both looked back when they heard someone screaming at them and without looking, Jayde could have sworn she would turn to see two girls approaching. But lo and behold, it was two shorter men, one white, one black, both very feminine in body structure, approached them, both holding martini glasses full of neon-looking liquid.

"HEY!" Dotcom practically screamed, wrapping his arm around Jayde's shoulders to pull her closer. "Guys, this is Jayde! Jayde, this is Taylor and Jake!"

Jake, the black guy, extended a dainty hand, smiling but just barely gripping her hand in a light handshake. "Hi! You guys look great!" he practically shouted. He then turned and glanced up at the upper level of the club before he pointed at it. "Let's go upstairs! It's not as gross and sweaty up there and there's another bar."

Jayde followed the ever-growing crowd of gays toward the stylish, circular metal stairs on the far side of the room, honestly thrilled to be moving away from the bumping and grinding mass of people. For being so cold outside, she was surprised at how disgustingly hot it was inside the club from all the mingled body heat. Fortunately, the second level was much more subdued, and even the music seemed less headache inducing as Jayde and the gays lined up around the bar. Jayde settled to one side of Dotcom, setting her clutch hand bag down on the counter as she listened to the guys around her giving their drink orders. She had never been a fan of drinking and certainly did not feel like drinking that night around so many people and in a place very unfamiliar to her. With an unheard heavy sigh, she painfully allowed herself to wish mildly that Joker was there. It was incredibly unlikely, in fact it was near impossible, that he would have agreed to go out with a group of gay guys, but Jayde knew that if he were there, it would have been probable he would not have been drinking as well and would more than likely have a blunt or two up his sleeve. It was also likely, he would have figured out some way to arrange a fair amount of chaos and would have timed how long it took to empty an entire club of people…he might have even brought a stopwatch…_'__for__scientific__research__'__._

"Jayde! What are you drinking?" Dotcom suddenly shouted in her ear, causing her to jump slightly, forcing herself out of her thoughts and into the present where he was waiting expectantly for her to place a drink order. The bartender was staring at her…

"Oh, um-…" she stammered at first, knowing the words 'I don't want anything' would have set off a frenzy of disapproval amongst Dotcom and his friends. "Uh, vodka and cranberry?" she asked, knowing if she held onto the drink long enough and let the ice melt, she could drink it very slowly and not even acquire a buzz.

Within moments, the dark pink drink was placed firmly in her hand and Jayde was now taking a delicate sip, listening to Preston complain to Dotcom beside her.

"Andy," he started. Jayde forced herself not to giggle…_Andy__…_"There's no _guys_here except us! We should just go over to Vel-"

"Well let's take a walk around! I'd be _really_surprised if we're the _only_fags in here, Pres-…" Dotcom answered, then leaned over toward Jayde. "Hey, we're gonna go on a talent search, ok? Just hang tight, make some uh-…'friends'…We'll be right back." Jayde turned to him quickly, opening her mouth to protest him leaving her there, unattended, when practically every guy, of every size, shape and color was staring her down like a piece of meat. However Dotcom was already walking away, arm in arm with Preston, his drink clutched firmly in his hand.

"Oh my god…" Jayde said aloud to herself, turning to face the bar again. Even Scott, Jake and that other faggot had walked off, leaving her completely alone at the bar and looking more rejected and pathetic than ever. For a second, she remembered her bag and the twenty dollar bill tucked down into it and for just a moment, she considered going outside to hail her own taxi back to the apartment. But then again…Dotcom had the only key and it was currently stuffed deep into his pocket; there was every chance he would _not_let her leave.

So with nothing else left to do but drink, Jayde sat down on one of the barstools and took another long sip of her vodka and cranberry juice, surprised to already be feeling the very first affects of the alcohol…It had been a while.

Oh, how Jayde wished Joker was there. She loathed herself for allowing that thought to form itself to completion in her mind but something about imagining him there with her was comforting, in a strange and completely unfounded way. It was more than likely he had already forgotten about her, wanted nothing to do with her and would kill her if she ever decided to show up again…he had probably already…it pained her to think it, but he had probably already fucked some other girl, just to spite Jayde and make her feel like shit, even eight hundred miles away. She had probably been some gorgeous, blonde, perfectly skinny girl that had just _swooned_over the way he spoke, _loved_ his dark and sexy demeanor. She had probably traced that wonderful scar on his bottom lip with her tongue and fisted her hands into his completely green-less blonde hair as he kissed her…

With a start, Jayde realized she had been tearing up in preparation to cry and quickly reached up, bowing her head slightly to blot at her eyes gently with the corner of the cocktail napkin that had come with her drink. She sniffed quietly, forcing her mind to another avenue of thought, but only to jump when someone sat down next to her, placing his forearms on the bar before him…

For a split second, Jayde's mind tricked her into thinking she was about to look over and have her eyes fall onto the face of the Joker, sitting next to her at the bar, smirking in that wonderful way that just wrinkled the corners of his eyes…But of course, it was not and instead, beside her, sat a tall, broad-shouldered, somewhat muscular young man, his dark hair cut short and tapered into a very clean cut style. Jayde looked away again, wishing she had chosen to go with Dotcom and Preston on their 'talent search' and was about to get up and try to find them when the man next to her glanced over, a friendly, kind smile on his surprisingly handsome face.

"You know, it's not often girls come to a club by themselves," he stated, leaning toward her slightly so she could hear him. He leaned back a second later, glancing at the bartender as he passed him a cold bottle of beer. Jayde laughed somewhat sheepishly, idly stirring her drink with the tiny straw.

"Oh, I'm not here alone. I'm with my friends but…" she glanced around, _praying_she would spot Dotcom. A moment later, she sighed, looking back to the guy next to her. "They've…gone off to 'talent search'…" she went on to explain, using her fingers for quotations, but from the confused expression on the man's face, she continued, rolling her eyes. "I'm here with a bunch of gay guys…" Finally, a look of understanding crossed the stranger's features.

"_Ohhh__…_I see." He groaned, then leaned toward her again, raising one eyebrow. "Well, I hope they wont mind if they see me talking to you. I know those guys get a little protective of their um-…female friends."

At this, Jayde laughed. _That__'__s__kinda__why__they__brought__me__here__in__the__first__place__…_

"No, I don't think they'll mind." She assured him, taking another sip of her drink. Why, she was not sure…It seemed like the right thing to do. The man nodded, then reached over, extending his hand to her.

"I'm Kyle by the way," he introduced himself, which made Jayde feel as thought she ought to do the same.

"I'm Jayde."

For quite some time, Jayde and Kyle sat there at the bar, talking, joking, and admittedly flirting quite a bit, and before long, Jayde had completely forgotten that she was waiting for Dotcom and Preston to return. It was probable they had found what they were looking for but Jayde was not concerned with what they were doing just then. Her drink was down to the completely unmelted ice and she was feeling _rather_tipsy…not _drunk,_but fairly loose and leagues happier than she had been upon arriving nearly an hour prior.

Kyle had kindly offered to get her another vodka and cranberry but she declined, knowing the second drink was usually where she started feeling drunk and in turn, sick. He seemed to understand and was now glancing around at the growing crowd before looking back to Jayde.

"Hey, I have a hookup that could get us into VIP," he said somewhat quietly. "If you want, we can go sit back there. It's more quiet and there's…less people."

The alcohol was helping lower Jayde's inhibitions, and when normally, she would have said no, the vodka said yes. So after grabbing her clutch and threading her hand between Kyle's strong, firm arm and his ribs, she allowed him to lead her over to the back wall of the second floor where two large, black, metal doors stood guarded by a large bouncer. Kyle led Jayde right up to the doors and to the huge man, saying something about knowing a 'Rico'. Apparently, this sufficed as an entrance pass into the exclusive VIP lounge of the club and within seconds, Jayde and Kyle were walking into the luxurious room.

It seemed from the way he led her right over to the very back corner that Kyle had already been there, but Jayde, her curiosity fueled by the alcohol in her system, was staring around at the backlit, deep red walls and the sheen, gray drapes that lay over them. Black booths and high top tables sat around the room, even some leather couches that Jayde was positive were coated in more than one type of bodily fluid…Unfortunately, Kyle was leading her right over to the one at the very back of the room.

They sat, Jayde first, which left Kyle to sit rather close to her, sliding his arm around her shoulders along the back of the couch. Being a smart woman, Jayde knew what he was attempting, but did not feel ready to stop him…after all, this was precisely why Dotcom had wanted her to come out with them, wasn't it? And seeing how Joker had already hooked up with someone else, who's to say he wasn't due a little retribution?

Jayde sighed, tilting her head back to rest against his arm on the couch behind her, looking over and up at him with slightly hazy eyes, wondering how long it would take before he gave in. She had noticed him eyeing her lips almost the entire time they were talking at the bar, and Jayde was not blind…she knew guys liked her lips for their shape and fullness and had learned over the course of her time with the Joker how to hold them _just_perfectly to…

Without warning, Kyle leaned down, just _barely_pressing his lips to Jayde's, parting them ever so slightly to kiss her tentatively, almost as though afraid she would push him away…She was the furthest thing from it. Her hand moved to rest gently on his button-down shirt, forcing herself not to tighten her grip to pull him closer. It was immediately, painfully tangible, with the feel of them against her own, that Kyle's lips were perfectly smooth and in tact, no scars to brush against her cheeks, no deep gash in the middle of his bottom lip. Jayde wanted to be thankful for this, wanted to enjoy it, but the more she forced herself to pretend that is how she wanted lips to feel, the more she realized she was hating this more and more. Kyle was agonizingly gentle with his kiss, just barely touching his lips to hers and pulling back slightly every other second. His hand remained firmly at his side, as though touching her face or neck would have angered her, when that was really all Jayde wanted.

She could have very easily pretended she was kissing the Joker, but doing that would have been impossible and pointless. Chances were, she would never meet another guy with a scar on his bottom lip, and even less likely…she would never meet another guy who could kiss her like he did. Joker was never rough with his kisses, unless the mood was right, but the passion and detail he kissed her with far surpassed any kiss she had ever experienced before and likely would ever experience again. Jayde whimpered quietly when Kyle pulled away completely.

"Sorry," he breathed. "I-…"

"No," Jayde stopped him, pulling him back down to her lips, hoping to force herself to enjoy this, to tolerate it as long as she could, as though subjecting herself to his weak kisses would help force the Joker out of her mind. However, the affect was just the opposite. Warm tears began to well up along her lower eyelids, threatening to spill as memories and phantom sensations began to float through Jayde's body. Kyle was not the Joker, his lips were too perfect, his kisses too weak and pointless. Her heart was racing, despite the alcohol making her feel slow and before Jayde could stop herself, those tears spilled down her cheeks and she pulled away with a soft gasp. Kyle opened his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing when he noticed the wet, gray trails sliding down her cheeks.

"What's wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-…" he immediately began to stammer, but Jayde shook her head, standing up from the couch.

"N-no, it's not you, it's-…it's me." She explained fuzzily, shaking her head as she picked up her handbag. "I'm so sorry, I have to go."

And with that, Jayde practically ran out of the VIP room, feeling dizzy and slightly sick to her stomach, a sensation that had absolutely nothing to do with the liquor in her system. Every kiss she had ever experienced with Joker was flashing through her brain like pictures in a slideshow, forcing her tears to fall faster and blur her vision as she wound her way back down the spiral staircase to the lower level.

As the time neared a quarter to one in the morning, the lower level of the club was absolutely packed to capacity, making finding any one person nearly impossible. There was no telling where Dotcom and his gang had gone in this club but as Jayde's tears continued to fall, she found herself not caring to waste time finding him. Sure, she would not be able to get into the apartment, but just getting away from the club at this point was priority, when all she wanted to do was sit down and cry somewhere. Making a mental note of it to call and text him repeatedly once she got back to the apartment building, hoping he would hear or feel his phone, Jayde pushed her way through the crowd and to the front doors of the club, pulling her coat on in the process.

Fortunately, a group of girls had just climbed out of a taxi at the curb and before the man could pull his cab away, Jayde trotted over and leaned down in the window.

"Can you take me home?" she asked stupidly, unable to think up a better way to ask for a ride at the moment. The man glanced over before nodding silently and Jayde let out a soft sob of relief as she climbed into the back seat. The driver watched her through the rear view mirror as she leaned forward, burying her face into her hands, to let her shoulders shake in defeat.

Joker's hold over her was _still_ too strong. She felt weak, practically controlled by him, even after a full week of neither seeing nor hearing from him and Jayde felt stupid for thinking another man could help her move past the heaping mounds of love she still felt for that psychotic criminal she _used_to call her man.

This would _not_be as easy as she had originally estimated.

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A/N: I'M SORRY! I know the wait was longer than expected but hopefully you found the chapter worth it! I PROMISE the next one is coming out sooner. By the way, anyone notice? K meets J…J meets K. Anyone? Anyone? Eh?


	14. Heartache

Dotcom looked up from tapping ash from the end of his cigarette, sitting in one of the high patio chairs on his balcony when the glass, French door swung open, revealing a sleepy Jayde, stepping out in her pajama pants, her warm black coat wrapped around her tightly. She squinted, shielding her eyes from the bright, crisp morning sunlight, feeling her way to the seat opposite him and placing her heel on the short rail to push herself up into the high chair. Across from her, Jayde could sense that Dotcom was feeling a bit guilty about the way the previous night had played out and she hesitated in looking over at him until he offered her a cigarette. She accepted and lit it, keeping her eyes focused on the street far below the balcony as she inhaled deeply.

"Did you sleep good?" Dotcom eventually broke the silence, clearly hoping to get something of an update on how she was feeling toward him. Jayde was not entirely _mad_so she nodded.

"Yeah," she lied, thinking back to the night before.

Upon reaching the apartment the previous night, Darion, the security guard, must have noticed how upset she appeared and offered to let her into the apartment so she would not be forced to sit in the lobby and wait for Dotcom to return. She had graciously thanked him before going inside and locking the multiple dead bolts before slinking to the guest room and dissolving into full blown tears. Fortunately, she had fallen asleep before Dotcom and his friends returned, saving her from answering any prying questions about her reason for leaving the club so abruptly. However, contrary to her prior response, Jayde had not slept for more than an hour or so at a time.

"Look…" Dotcom began after several long, silent moments, but Jayde shook her head, closing her eyes.

"Don't," she cut him off. "It's cool, I really don't-…"

Dotcom interrupted her this time.

"No, I wanna apologize," he said somewhat quietly. "I shouldn't have just left you alone." Here, he paused, taking a drag from his cigarette. "But I came back and saw you talking to this guy and I didn't wanna-…Wait…" Jayde felt her stomach sink when she realized Dotcom was putting things together. She kept her eyes away from him, hoping to keep herself from giving anything away with her expression. "Wait, is he why you left? Did he do something to you?" he went on to ask, his voice laced with concern and even a slight bit of protectiveness, like that of an older brother. Jayde shook her head.

"No, I um-…I left because I was tired. And I couldn't find you and-…" she stumbled and stammered through this lie, but when she glanced over to take note of the highly skeptical expression on Dotcom's face, she sniffed hard when she felt her eyes growing warm and prickly with oncoming tears. "He kissed me and…" Her voice started to grow higher in pitch and wobble as she struggled hard not to start crying again. She cleared her throat, shaking her head. "-and it just didn't feel right, you know? He was too…_gentle_or something…I don't know…"

Silence descended again, leaving Jayde to stare out over the bustling street below, while Dotcom studied the side of her face and the long, thin scar that ran parallel to her delicate cheekbone. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat, pushing his cigarette into the ashtray on the high-top table between them to lean forward and rest his forearms on it.

"So what are you gonna do?" he asked bluntly, his newly arched eyebrows curving from behind his glasses when Jayde looked over, frowning slightly in confusion.

"What do you mean, 'what am I gonna do'?" she asked, shaking her head. Dotcom shrugged, letting his eyes fall to the ash tray when she tapped her cigarette over it.

"Well, you obviously miss Joker…a lot." He stated as though this were fact, but Jayde immediately shook her head.

"No," she replied a bit too strongly to seem sincere. "No, I don't."

At this, Dotcom scoffed loudly. "Jayde, you are _lying._To me _and_yourself. If you didn't miss him, you would have enjoyed kissing that guy last night, no matter _how__…_'gentle' he was." He paused, watching as Jayde's nose wrinkled when she admitted internally that he was right. "So I'm asking…_what_are you gonna do?"

After a second or two, Jayde tossed her hands with a heavy shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know! I _left_him, remember? If I went back or called him to say I miss him, he would never respect me again, you _know_ that. He would say I was stupid for ever leaving in the first place, call me pathetic, then go right back to treating me like dirt!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. "I can't go back. I just have to move on and…pretend like he was never a part of my life." She concluded solemnly, pushing her cigarette butt down into the ash tray before she slid down from the chair and turned to go back inside, feigning deafness when she heard Dotcom call her name.

Seeing how Dotcom had to go in to work for a couple of hours that morning, Jayde was left alone with the apartment, under strict instruction to relax and take it easy, try to keep her mind away from Joker and from anything that might make her upset. Jayde thought this seemed rather pointless, being that nearly everything reminded her of him, but after taking a long, hot bath, she decided painting her nails was one of those tasks that just might keep her focused for a while. However, as she changed her clothes and caught a glimpse of her hands, she sighed with a groan when she remembered having her nails manicured and painted black the previous day at Emaan's salon. There went _that_idea…

The Joker was not in a good mood. In fact, he hadn't been in a 'good mood' since…well, he really couldn't remember the last time he felt truly happy. The word 'happy' passed through his mind as he lay on his back in the otherwise empty bed and an irritated snort of disdain escaped him. Happiness was so fleeting, what was the point in ever enjoying it? If he thought hard enough about it, the last time he could remember feeling that emotion was the moment he pressed the detonator to blow up the college dorms in Gotham. Of course, not even fifteen minutes after, that happiness had deteriorated rapidly, giving way to a crushing, excruciating feeling of loss that he had never experienced before in his life.

_Jayde__ makes __me__…__kinda __happy_, he thought with an unfitting frown stapled to his face. Over the past week, he had been debating with himself on whether or not to actually admit that statement to completion inside his mind, but as he thought back on the past _year_of his life, the one recurring theme, the most notable circumstances where he felt truly happy either involved terrorizing Gotham, laughing and bickering with Tre, and _Jayde._With a short grunt, Joker took his mind back to the morning when he had come into his room to wake her up, only to end up biting her. The corners of his lips flickered upward when he remembered the way she squealed and smacked him on the shoulder, sleepily poking out her bottom lip as she rubbed the back of her arm. He remembered the kisses and disgusting cuteness that had followed and he groaned disgustedly as he rose from the bed to trudge groggily from the room.

Joker missed Jayde…but only until he remembered the things she had said to him the morning she left, how she openly stated how miserable she was with him and how she hated being there. What was the point in missing someone that had no intention of coming back? It was more than probable that Jayde had already been out and about, completely forgetting about him as guy after random guy took her to dinner or bought her drinks or…whatever the hell it was she wanted. Unabashedly, Joker could admit that Jayde was easily the most gorgeous girl he had ever slept with, easily the most compatible with his _colorful_ personality, despite the fact that in many ways, she was very opposite him. He also knew that he was not the only guy to ever notice her beauty, but the thought of her sleeping with someone else or even _kissing_ someone else made him feel sick a way with which he was completely unfamiliar. Very clearly, Joker could remember Tre reminding him on a regular basis what a lucky mother fucker he was for landing a girl like Jayde…It seemed his luck had run dry as of late.

Over the past week, Joker had only left the house a handful of times, either going up to the store for a pack of cigarettes or simply driving around to get himself away from the house when his loneliness was at an all time high. A couple times, he had eyed the half finished bottle of Jack Daniels in one of the top, corner cabinets with interest, wondering if it might just be easier to simply drink himself into a stupor every night, when the emptiness of the house was at it's worst. Being fall-down, black-out drunk would probably have made it easier to get in the bed by himself every night. However, every time he made up his mind to drink himself comatose, a fleeting memory of that morning in the bathroom, puking his guts out with Jayde right there to help him would flash into his memory. Every time, he decided against it, knowing the morning after would be miserable without someone there to bring him a glass of water or run their fingers through his hair.

It had been a few days since he had showered, for no other reason beyond the fact that he felt there was no point…That, and the sight of Jayde's toiletries usually made him feel like he had been hit by a truck. But as he ran his hands through his increasingly greasy hair, Joker cringed, knowing a shower was completely unavoidable at this point. So after stripping down and making sure the water was warm, he stepped into the streams of water, shivering slightly as they hit his skin. With a sigh, he felt his muscles relax a bit, unaware that he had been so tense, even from just walking down the hall and into the bathroom. His shoulders were sore and his chest hurt internally, a thick, pounding ache that he had never experienced before. Vaguely, he wondered if he was about to have a heart attack and he welcomed the notion, knowing it might just be easier to die rather than have to deal with so many emotions.

But as the minutes ticked by, with him simply standing there in the middle of the shower, allowing the water to rain down over him, the ache in his chest continued but did not intensify. From reading many medical books in the past, Joker knew that an oncoming heart attack was usually accompanied by pain in the shoulder or left arm and since his arms felt fine, he supposed cardiac arrest was not in the plan for him that day, as mildly disappointing as that seemed. Finally, he sighed heavily, reaching down for his own bottle of shampoo, which he had gone out of his way to move to the corner opposite Jayde's.

As he lathered his hair, despite how hard he had been trying not to look at it, Joker's eyes fell onto Jayde's bottle of coconut shampoo and he stared hard at it, as if it were some magic portal into which he could look and see what she was doing. Dotcom was probably going above and beyond to help her forget about him, encouraging her to go out with all the guys that had probably called her. He could just see them sitting on a couch in some fancy apartment, swapping 'boy stories' and giggling stupidly at the Joker's expense. This image forced his eyes closed and he took a long, deep breath in through his nose, escaping from his mouth a second later as that ache intensified slightly.

After lathering his hair a second time, Joker watched idly as what seemed like the very last of the green dye swirled around the drain at his feet. Surprisingly, he had absolutely no intention of dying his hair again anytime soon; one, because he had no more dye, and two…well, Jayde usually did that for him. Doing it by himself just seemed like a waste of time and energy.

He supposed it was a little out of character of him to be feeling so blue when he usually felt purple and green with a mix of blood red. But if losing his only friend hadn't been bad enough, Jayde walking out on him had been a real blow, as much as he hated admitting that. Yes, going out and killing a whole mess of people probably would have made him feel a lot better, but for some reason, he could not bring himself to it. Call it laziness or just being plain tired, the only thing Joker felt like doing was sitting at the house, alone, brooding, smoking blunt after blunt of the strongest weed he could get his hands on. Of course, getting high only seemed to intensify the sensation of 'loneliness'. For an hour or two a few days ago, Joker had foolishly considered getting in touch with Lazer again for something a bit stronger, something that would completely obliterate any rational, logical thought in his brain. But upon thinking back over the times he had tripped using hard drugs, he figured staying on the weed really was the best course of treatment for himself.

With his body rinsed clean, Joker reached down to turn off the water, but paused with his hand on the knob, his eyes trained on Jayde's bottle of shampoo. Before he could stop himself, he reached out for it, wondering if maybe taking a large deep breath in of the warm scent would help that deep ache in his chest and remind him why he was glad she was gone. But as the horribly familiar scent of coconut and vanilla traveled past his senses, that ache turned to stabbing pain, forcing him to groan and clutch his chest as the shampoo bottle dropped from his hand to the floor of the shower. His breath escaped him in gasps as his back met the cold tile wall behind him, the heels of his hands pressing into his eyes, fighting hard against the stinging. That had _not _been a good idea.

With the guest room now cleaner than it had been upon her arrival, Jayde turned her cleaning frenzy to the living room, starting first with taking several paper towels and a bottle of Windex to the coffee table and smaller tables on either end of the couch, wiping them down until she could have eaten straight off of them. Cleaning had always been an effective trick to taking her mind off things and it came as a blessing that Jayde had already promised Dotcom she would clean his entire apartment in small repayment for everything he had done for her. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to ask him where he kept the vacuum or if he even owned one so she forewent the rugs and moved onto the paned glass French doors, spraying and wiping down each small window within the door. This mindless work was only doing so much to distract her and over the past ten minutes, Jayde felt herself growing more and more angry for reasons that were beyond her. She thought she had moved past the anger phase several days prior but for some reason or another, her mind kept moving her back to the sensation she had felt at the very moment Joker's hand had made contact with her face. Her teeth gritted and her hand clenched into a fist as she tossed a dirty wad of paper towels to the side, but she held herself back, knowing punching a hole through one of these windows would hurt pretty bad and probably make Dotcom fairly angry, although he would likely try to hide it. This brought her to wonder where he was and how soon he would be home…having him there with her helped distract her greatly…that and she was craving one of those fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches…

Dotcom was just stepping through the back kitchen door, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder when his pocket began vibrating in earnest, signaling that Jayde or one of his friends was calling. With a roll of his eyes, he pulled his glasses down from his frizzy red curls onto his face, figuring that it was Preston, calling to dish about the younger guy he had taken home the night before. The gayer parts of him wanted to hear the story but the rest of him honestly just wanted to get home and make something to eat that did not involve the food he had just been staring at for the past three hours. At first, he made to ignore the phone, but when he realized it might be Jayde calling to find out where he was, he reached into his pocket and slid the phone from within the khaki material, bringing up closer to his face to read the name on the caller ID…His stomach clenched up when he read the name 'Boss'.

"Hello?" he answered hastily, honestly a bit anxious to find out what it was he wanted. There was a pause on the other end.

"…Hey." Joker's deep voice answered. It had been almost an hour since he had emerged from the shower and put on jeans and his zip-up sweatshirt. He now found himself sitting on the couch in the living room, staring at the carpet with the phone to his ear after a long and useless battle with himself on whether or not to make the call. It was silent on the phone.

"Hey," Dotcom eventually said. "Uh-…how you been?" he went on to ask awkwardly. Joker rolled his eyes, dropping his head against the back of the couch heavily.

"How do you _think _I've been…" he asked bitterly in return. Dotcom paused again.

"Been missin' her, huh…"

The hint of a grin Joker detected in Dotcom's voice plainly expressed that he had been expecting a call of this kind. Joker's eyes slid open as his eyebrows furrowed.

"No." he answered adamantly. But when Dotcom did not immediately answer, he rolled his eyes again, sighing heavily through his nose. "…Yes." He then corrected his answer toward the most honest end of the spectrum. "Is she-…" he went on to ask a question but Dotcom cut over him, his voice slightly muffled by the sound of a loud car horn in the background.

"Is she alright? Yes, but…" he paused, this time sighing himself. "I shouldn't be telling you this but…she misses you too. She wont admit it and she's…well, she's still pretty mad at you but she _does _miss you. God, she'll kill me if she finds out I told you..."

Silence descended over the cellular conversation yet again when Joker sat up, resting his elbows on his knees as he rubbed his eyes deeply with two fingers from his right hand.

"I don't know what to do," he finally admitted, moving his fingers from his eyes to his stomach, rubbing there deeply as his insides twisted from both hunger and disgust at being so open with _Dotcom_ about how he was feeling. Normally, Tre was the one he would be talking to about these sort of situations but seeing how Tre was no longer around…

"Well, you shouldn't have treated her like shit then, should you?" Dotcom suddenly spat, as though he had been waiting a while to say this. He was lucky they were separated by over seven hundred miles…Joker's teeth gritted together inside his mouth as his eyes slid open slowly.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Joker growled as sarcastically, struggling to stay as patient as possible, knowing it would do him no good to hang up. "Now tell me-"

"No," Dotcom began. "No, you need to hear this. That girl was nothing but good to you, always. You know why she went with you to Chicago?" he asked, but did not leave Joker time to say anything before he continued. "Because she _loves_you and because she knew you needed someone to help you get through Tre's death. Then not even a month later, that girl calls me, talkin' about how you _hit_her and called her a cunt." Here, Joker broke in to put in his side of the clearly, highly lopsided story from the morning of their huge fight, but Dotcom cut over him. "No! You know, you don't deserve her, at all…" Finally, he paused, taking a breath as if to steady himself. "But…she loves you. She misses you. And you obviously miss her. And…I don't think you can get through this without her." He then said in reference the heavy amount of grieving Joker had been forced to manage alone over the past week. He cleared his throat, shaking his head as he stared down at the ugly carpet before him.

"I can't." he stated in a grunt after several long seconds. "I…I need her…here."

It was silent on the phone yet again, those few seconds leaving Joker feeling as though he were about to be sick after admitting such personal feelings aloud. Honestly, he did not even realize he had been feeling that way until the words came out. On the other end of the phone, Dotcom took a deep breath before exhaling heavily.

"You swear you wont ever hit her again?"

"Swear."

"And you'll be nicer to her, even if you have to pretend?"

"Yeah."

"…And you _really_need her with you? You _really_need her back?"

"…Yes."

Another heavy sigh left Dotcom, where Joker could just picture him rubbing his eyes behind his glasses, before he spoke again.

"…Then come get her."

Joker hung up the phone, letting his arm drop onto the cushion of the couch next to him, his shoulders rising and falling deeply as he sighed. The ache that had taken up residence in his chest had lessened only slightly which made him wonder if what he was feeling could be considered relief or if simply admitting a few things aloud to someone had actually helped. He could remember how much better he would feel after talking to Tre and as much as he hated to think that Dotcom had been slightly justified in saying what he had, Joker could not help but wonder if maybe Dotcom had been _completely _right. Perhaps, he _didn__'__t_deserve her. Maybe Jayde had been right to leave him. Sure, she may miss him but it was more than likely she was better off without him, in a new city, starting a new life with new people, while he was left back in Chicago to wallow in the misery he had created for himself. Who was he to keep her down?

Then again…since when did the Joker _not_ deserve something?

Grabbing his phone, he disappeared into the bedroom but only for a few seconds, before he reappeared and walked past the couch, a set of keys in his hand, a change of clothes under his arm and resolve in his steps. However, as he reached the garage door, he paused, his hand on the knob, his eyes fixed on the back of his scarred hand.

_ Is this really what I need? _

..._Yes._

.

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.A/N: A very short chapter, but I'm sure you get the gist. This was never meant to be a long, drawn out chapter as I'm sure you all are just ready for the next one. Also, I'm looking for a new beta for the rest of this story. Send me an email or a private message if you are interested. -QoM


	15. Help Me

…_You __are __now __leaving __Illinois__… _

The Joker's eyes slid along the windows on the right of the Escalade as this sign flew by and that anxious, tight feeling in his chest strengthened; there was no turning back at this point. Granted, he had only been driving for a little over an hour but upon leaving the house, he had sworn to himself that if he could at least make it to the state line without turning around, he would keep going, no matter how daunting the thought of driving another six hours seemed. If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he was nervous about seeing Jayde. He had no idea what he was going to say, had no clue as to what he could do to convince her to come back home with him, but if Tre's advice from months earlier proved correct, as it usually did, the right words would come without him trying very hard. However, this did not prevent him from going over a few things in his mind in preparation…

_Look,__ I__'__m __sorry, __I __fucked __up. __Please __come __back __with __me._

That just sounded pathetic to him and Joker was positive Jayde would think the same thing. And if Dotcom had been right, she would still be pretty mad at him, which led him to wonder if he would maybe have to try a bit harder, even lie about a few things.

_I__ haven__'__t __been __able __to __eat, __I __haven__'__t __been __able __to __sleep __without __you __there. __Every __time __I __manage __to __fall __asleep, __I __wake __up __miserable __a __few __minutes __later, __wishing __you __were __there__ to __scratch__ my__ back __or__…__I __don__'__t __know, __do__ something __to__ help __me__…__Wait__…__that__'__s __not__ a __lie._

A heavy, audible sigh escaped him as he shifted in the warm Escalade's driver seat, switching hands on the steering wheel as a bit of Tre's sage advice echoed in the back of his mind…

_"__Man, __girls __are__ easy.__ All__ they __want __is __the __truth.__" _He had said, leaning back against the long, metal surgical table in Joker's old office. He continued after plucking a bit of lint from one of his long dreadlocks. "_An__' __if __you __don__' __tell__ '__em __the __truth,__ they __know__ that __shit. __They __can __pra-ticly __**smell **__a __lie.__ So __if__ you __really __wanna __do__ right __by__ '__er,__ jus__' __tell__ '__ah __how__ ya __feel, __nigguh. __An__' __once __you __get__ there, __you __wont __even __hafta __think__ '__bout __it, __it__'__ll __all __come __out, __one __way __or __another.__"_

Of course, at the time, Joker had rolled his eyes, finding it highly unlikely that Jayde could _smell _him lying but in hindsight, it seemed Tre had been right. Jayde was one of the smartest girls he had ever encountered and _unfortunately, _he had allowed himself to get so relaxed around her, she was now one of the only people who could see right through him. His eyes blinked slowly, wearily as his mind flashed him back yet again…

_"Joker,__ what __happens __when __we __get __back __to __Gotham?"_

Jayde's voice had been so soft and almost hesitant in this question, as though she was afraid of what his answer might be. He could remember trying hard not to grin at the slightly anxious expression on her face.

_"Well, __I__ guess __you'd __be __free __to __go__ back __to__…__whatever __it __was __you __were __doing."_

Joker could vividly remember the feeling that had shot through him after giving this answer, how it had not felt right, the thought of her just…leaving and going back to her life. It seemed like it had always been in the plan for her to stay with him…even though he had never _actually _planned on that.

_"After all, I did abduct you and frame you with murder. I'm surprised you're even still here, to be honest." _

At the time, he had laughed after admitting this, but truthfully, he had not found it surprising or funny in the slightest. The look in Jayde's eyes had been so nervous, almost like a teenage girl admitting a crush on one of the 'popular' guys. Joker could not have found it cuter.

"_But what if I wanted to stay?…with you…"_

Her olive complexion had grown rather rosy in appearance at this point, again forcing Joker to tighten his lip's grip on his teeth, just so he wouldn't grin and make her feel more embarrassed. She continued after he opened his eyes to look up at her.

"_It-It's just that…I know you're like…a criminal…and all that…But I kinda feel like you're…that 'best guy friend' I've never had."_

Looking back, Joker found it truly amusing how she had stated these feelings when he had really been feeling the exact same way. He could remember a huge wave of relief washing over him at her expressing the emotions he could never allow himself to admit or even put to words in the first place. In the present, Joker's lips tightened into a small smirk when he reflected back on how mortified she seemed with herself for saying such a thing aloud.

"_I mean, if you don't feel the same way, we can forget about-"_

"_Jayde-," _

Joker had interrupted her, almost out of pity or sympathy when it seemed her discomfort had reached a peak and he could remember having to force himself to admit this out loud.

"_I feel the same way."_

He had eventually said, trying hard not to notice the way her eyes lit up. And from there, he had gone on hastily to add a bunch of different reasons as to why he felt it unfitting for her to return to her life, but purely because he could not stand to think he had actually admitting feeling something more than simply being a captor to this girl. Then, with a stab of hurt, Joker remembered his next question to her, over a year ago, laying in that bed in a hotel in Billings, Montana.

"_So you wanna be best friends then?" _

The back of Joker's head met the leather rest behind him as he sighed heavily through his nose; he had completely and entirely forgotten about their agreement. How stupid of him to have gone along all this time, thinking he had lost his one and only best friend, when he still had another, right there with him, beside him all along. It seemed time had forced him to view her as nothing more than some girl that trailed along behind him, annoying him and trying desperately hard to help him. How _stupid_…

That ache in his chest had now spread to his stomach and morphed into a strange fluttering, quivering sensation as he passed the sign reading _"Welcome to Indiana!", _posted on the right side of the interstate. His insides felt as though they were rattling or had been filled with moths, a sensation he had only ever experienced once or twice before but could not remember what it was he had been doing. He just hoped sincerely it would stop within the next hour…

…or the next hour…

…or the next…

Dotcom watched the side of Jayde's face from his seat across from her at the tall metal table on the patio as she sat leaned to the side, her scarred cheek rested against her knuckles as she gazed at the building across the street listlessly. Her hand moved every now and then, bringing her cigarette to her mouth before dropping back down to rest on her leg, a thin stream of smoke passing her lips a few seconds later when she exhaled. A silly, almost guilty grin had mounted itself to his face somewhere in the past five minutes although when he first returned home from work, he had gone out of his way to avoid seeing her, for fear he may give away the fact that this depression she was experiencing, _and _denying, would only last until later that night. It had to remain a 'surprise' of sorts but…Dotcom had always been bad about keeping secrets.

He jumped, moving his gaze away quickly when Jayde suddenly looked over at him as though she had felt his gaze burning her skin, and her eyebrows furrowed deeply, wrinkling those two little frown lines between them.

"What?" she asked, her normally soft, sweet voice sounding a bit rough from the bout of anger she had let herself fall into once again. Dotcom shook his head, smirking to himself as he tapped ash from the end of his cigarette into the tray between them.

"Nothing, sweetie." He answered lightly, glancing over at her as she looked away, shaking her head.

As much as he enjoyed having her at his house over the past week, Jayde had been increasingly moody as the days had dragged on. The first two days after her arrival, she had been more loud, fun and outgoing than usual, clearly in an effort to just ignore the hurt and angry emotions leaving Chicago had stirred up in her. But as the days went on, that falsely carefree mentality had drained from her, first leaving her quiet and more introverted than normal, then progressed to where anything and everything pissed her off. Dotcom couldn't help but grin to himself, having been reminded of the way the Joker snapped at those who dared stare at him. It would be interesting to see how differently she acted the next day…

_Welcome to Pennsylvania!_

By the time Joker noticed this sign, the sun had long since set beyond the horizon and bitter, chilling wind roared past the open window to the left of him, nearly taking his cigarette each time he flicked ash from it. That fluttering in his stomach, to his dismay, had not diminished and had instead gained intensity each time he passed a state line, making it difficult to sit still, much less focus on keeping the Escalade from 'accidentally' running off the side of the road. The nervousness from earlier had also grown, to the point where several times, he felt tempted to pull off and turn around, say 'fuck it' and deal with his misery alone. And yet what he had told Dotcom was completely true; he really did need her there and didn't think he could handle going back to an empty house and an empty bed, with a fresh, gaping, oozing hole in his heart…especially now that he was so close.

A low groan left the Joker's chest as he exhaled heavily, closing his eyes for a few seconds as he once again wished Tre was there, for what seemed like the thousandth time since leaving the corner of Lincoln and Platt. Having someone else there, especially his brother, would have made this journey infinitely easier, although if Tre had been alive, it seemed unlikely this trip would be necessary in the first place. There would have been no sadness, no hating _everything, _no wishing he could just blow up the entire world in one. Jayde would have enjoyed being around him, he would have still liked her company…not finding himself looking for excuses to be away from her. It seemed only fitting that that once she was gone, he would feel the need to see her more strongly than ever before. Hell, even while he had been in prison for three months, he hadn't missed her this badly, purely from the fact that he _knew _he was getting out, he _knew _he would see her again and he _knew _she would be happy to see him. Now…he wondered if she would even listen to him or if she would simply cuss him out then send him on his way…Joker honestly didn't think he could handle that.

_You never know whatcha got 'til it's gone._

He could not remember Tre ever saying that, but for some reason or another, this phrase that echoed in his mind had been whispered in a perfectly black, Chicago accent. Shaking his head, he brushed it off, choosing not to believe that the voice of his subconscious had recently taken on the tone of his dead best friend. With an irritated huff, Joker flicked his cigarette through the window, once again pushing his thoughts as far from Tre as possible. Thinking about that night and reliving the explosion only made him angry with himself and seeing how he was trying hard to stay as emotionally neutral as possible, getting all worked up and pissed over his horrible decision to let Tre run across the street would do him absolutely no good.

Pennsylvania had to be one of the most boring states to drive through, and the fact that it was now dark out did not make things any more interesting. And of course, with nothing but the heavy metal music in the background to distract him, Joker's mind again took him back to a certain conversation from years and years prior.

"_You wait- one of these days, sooner or later, you gonna find a girl that you really really like an' she's not gonna stand for this 'dick n' dash' routine you do…" _

Joker could remember this conversation like it had happened yesterday…He couldn't help but feel like his best friend had been psychic in some way…A black prophet of sorts…

"_Then you're gonna be all hurt and confused like you don't know what to do…An' I'm gonna be right there, laughin' at yo ass…"_

The memory of this particular prediction sent a stabbing jolt of pain through his already sore chest, forcing his hand from the steering wheel to his sternum where he massaged the area deeply, raking his fingers across his skin through his shirt. He _really _needed to reach New York…For some reason, he felt as though just _seeing _Jayde would help with this pain as he had not started experiencing it until several days after she left. It seemed stupid but it gave him hope to think that just the sight of her bright blue eyes and nearly waist length black hair, her coconut scent would help soothe him to where he _might _be able to sleep for more than an hour at a time…all this depending on whether or not she tossed him out on the street, of course…

As usual, Dotcom had gone above and beyond to make an absolutely fantastic dinner that night. They had eaten at the dining table in lieu of the couch, for reasons that were beyond her but once she had finished eating, she stood up, pulling both her plate and his from the table to take them into the kitchen and begin rinsing. Her anger had surprisingly lasted for most of the day, leaving her to sit around and watch tv, floating in and out onto the patio for a cigarette here and there. Her attention span had been diminished into near nothingness, which made focusing on any one thing almost impossible. And seeing how Dotcom had been avoiding her for most of the day, Jayde was left alone in the guest room, brooding to herself about…well, everything.

She supposed she should start looking for a job, seeing how even the nicest of people, namely Dotcom, could run out of hospitality and she did not want to tread on his polite nature by staying around for longer than he expected. However, the thought of living by herself in such a huge city again only made her more irritated when she reflected back on how it turned out the last time she had tried that…So she had made a note of it earlier to ask him about possibly paying him monthly rent and just moving into his guest room permanently.

As she stood at the sink, using a circular brush to scrub the pots and pans, Jayde glanced over to where Dotcom still sat at the table, typing a text message on his phone. His head was bowed, yet his eyes were staring over the tops of his glasses at the screen and Jayde felt her stomach clench up uncomfortably when she imagined the taken-back look on his face after she asked if she could live with him. But as she had decided earlier, Dotcom was far too kind a person to flat out tell her he'd had enough of her staying there and since she did not want to take advantage of this part of his personality, she cleared her throat, hoping to pull his attention from his phone. Luckily, he looked over, pushing his glasses up his nose as his eyebrows raised. A smile appeared on his lips a second later.

"I um-…" she started, shifting her weight from one foot to the other awkwardly. "I um…I've been here for a week and…I want to start looking for a job but-…I don't really…" How could she explain herself in the most simple way possible, and yet _not _sound pathetic? She cleared her throat again as she let her eyes fall to the soapy dish in her hands, suddenly unable to keep eye contact with her best friend. "I don't really feel comfortable living alone again after…well…you know…So I was wondering if I get a job soon, if…"

"If you could live with me?" he asked, setting down his phone to lean forward and rest his elbow on the table, his chin rested on the heel of his hand. Jayde nodded with a slight shrug.

"Well, yeah. I just…I don't really want to live by myself yet…I dunno, I just…" she stammered painfully, hoping and praying he was about to say yes. But as he stood up, smirking to himself, Jayde watched anxiously as he walked toward the kitchen and appeared around the corner, stepping in to start putting things away. Following his trend for the day, Dotcom avoided making eye contact with her.

"Why don't we just talk about it tomorrow…" he offered gently, his lips tightening as his smirk threatened to expand into a full smile. Jayde turned to him, her eyebrows arching again in that half-frown as she finally felt herself reach the level of 'fed up' with his shifty and somewhat secretive demeanor that day. He must have sensed the way her hand had just rested on her hip as he turned to her, his eyebrows raised as though he had no idea what she was looking at.

"_What _is going on?" she asked, her voice raised slightly out of irritation as that anger from earlier flared up a bit. Quickly, Dotcom turned away, rising onto his toes a bit to put away a small jar of crushed red pepper in one of the upper cabinets.

"What do you mean?" he asked in return, clearly playing dumb although Jayde knew he understood exactly to what she was referring. The hand that had rested on her hip tossed slightly as she shrugged, rolling her eyes.

"You've been avoiding me since you got home from work!" she exclaimed, struggling to keep herself from getting all emotional again. "And I keep catching you looking at me like…like you know something I don't!" Here, she paused, dropping both of her hands to her sides as the small of her back met the edge of the counter behind her. "Tell me what's going on."

Finally, Dotcom turned to face her, all evidence of that former smirk missing from his face and he sighed, letting his right hand plop down on the counter beside him. His head cocked to the side slightly.

"Um...well…"

_Welcome to New York!_

"FINALLY!" Joker practically shouted in annoyance as the Escalade tore past this sign. It felt as though he had been driving for days and his knees ached from sitting for the past eight hours. With a wince, he brought his left leg up, bending it to try and pop his joints, wondering what on earth had convinced him that stopping would have been a bad idea. It could have been the fact that pulling over would have made turning around far too tempting to pass up, but it could have also been the fact that he wanted to reach Dotcom's apartment as quickly as he could.

The time on the navigation system read 12:45am. And seeing how he still had at least another hour of driving ahead of him, Joker prayed Jayde's sleeping schedule had not changed and that she still fell asleep before midnight like she always had. A few hours prior, he had received a text message from Dotcom with his address and instructions on how to get into the building to avoid the security guard, to which he had replied one short, simple text:

"_Don't tell her." _

Hopefully, Dotcom had understood this to mean he was _not _to tell Jayde he was coming, partially because he was hoping to approach her while she was sleeping, just so she would hopefully be too tired to take a swing at him, but also partially because he had a slight feeling he just might get cold feet at the door to the apartment. It would be so very like him to get all the way there then puss out, decide he was better off without her and vice versa. That feeling of anxiety had increased steadily over the past seven and a half hours, to the point where Joker's knee was bouncing out of control, his jaw aching from grinding his teeth into a powder. That fluttering in his stomach had now reached it's peak, making him feel nauseas and slightly lightheaded. He just had to reach the apartment…he _just _had to see her, then he would be ok. Then, even if she told him to get lost, he could maybe catch a few hours of sleep on the couch before he left the next morning…

After another hour of driving, Joker felt his already churning stomach clench up when the brightly lit New York skyline appeared as he followed the curve in the interstate. For being so late, it was rather surprising how the city, even from a distance, seemed alive and bustling with life…Then again, it was a Saturday night.

It had been several years since he had visited New York City and he could very clearly remember he and Tre's first night there, hustling about, trying to figure out where they could get their hands on some drugs. Of course, being the young entrepreneurs that they were, they had rented out a very fancy hotel room for the weekend and ended up doing nothing but getting drunk and high as _hell_, inviting random girls over to the suite each night…That would _not _be a story he could tell Jayde…if she let him talk to her, of course.

It was a curious thing, how time seems to drag when one needs it to fly by and yet seemingly disappears when one wants it to slow down. Within what felt like five minutes, Joker had made it across the bridge and was now weaving his way through the city, following the GPS's instructions after he had typed in Dotcom's address. Fortunately…or unfortunately, Joker was not sure which…the traffic was not that bad, seeing how the time currently stood at almost two in the morning. Again, Joker hoped wildly that Jayde was already asleep and that Dotcom had not told her he was coming. He could just imagine the look on her face when she opened her eyes slowly, blinking sleepily up at him as confusion and probably anger slid onto her features. That ache in his chest strengthened yet again.

Fortunately, once the Escalade had turned down Greenwich avenue, Joker spotted a free parking garage up ahead on the right, which was luckily still open so he turned into it, his heart now banging away at the inside of his chest. The wheels of the SUV squealed quietly as he turned into a parking space near the stairwell, but before he reached out for the handle of the door, he paused, taking a deep breath as his eyes slid closed.

Jayde was so close; literally, three blocks, six flights of stairs and one hallway away. Earlier, he had been trying to deny it, but now as he sat there in the nearly silent parking garage, Joker flat out admitted it- he was _nervous. _There was a really good chance she did not want to see him. There was also a really good chance she would ask him a whole slew of questions to which he did not know the right answers. He took another deep breath as he reached out for the handle of the door.

_Tre, you gotta help me. Help me, please._

Being that Joker was not even sure if he was going to actually make it into Dotcom's apartment, he left his change of clothes in the back seat of the Escalade. It would have been incredibly embarrassing to have brought them inside with him, only to be kicked back out like some stray dog and he didn't think he had the patience for that. And seeing how he really did not want to kill Jayde, he felt like leaving them behind was really the better option.

Luckily, he had thought to bring along his knee-length, black, warm coat and he stuffed his hands down inside the pockets as he braced himself against the bitter wind, anxiously gripping one of the forgotten knives at the bottom of the deep, left pocket. Several people passed him as he trudged along but he paid them no attention nor did they look at him. To them, he was just some random guy, walking along with his head bowed slightly, his almost shoulder length blonde hair whipping across his face. They could not see that ache in his chest, nor the way he felt sick to his stomach, nor the anxiety that he felt radiated from him like waves of heat and for that he was grateful; feeling that way in the first place was bad enough.

In his text, Dotcom had told him about a small alley way that ran along the side of the apartment building and about the metal door that sat about halfway down that was almost always unlocked. Apparently, the staff liked to sneak out for cigarette breaks and was really bad about locking it behind them, for which Joker was more than grateful…Explaining himself to the night security guard would more than likely have led to an awkward situation or two.

So after locating the door without much problem, Joker let himself in, using his dusty stealth skills to his advantage as he slinked along, keeping his ears open and alert for any sounds of approaching guards or staff members. However, fortunately, it seemed most of the building had turned in for the night as he was not met by anything other than some locked doors and dim lights, which guided him along until he reached another metal door. This _had _to be the one leading into the stairwell, and once he had opened it, a slight feeling of relief passed over him before that nauseating sense of anxiety overwhelmed him yet again as he began to climb the stairs.

It was somewhat fortunate Dotcom lived on the sixth floor, as it gave Joker an adequate amount of time in which to really debate hard over whether or not this was what he wanted to do. His entire life, and most especially once he had met Jayde, Joker had gone out of his way to keep his true emotions hidden from people. And yet so many times in the past, he had let this character trait slip away from him when it came to Jayde. What had to make this night any different? He could spit a few charming lines about how he had missed her, about how he hadn't been able to sleep soundly for over a week and how he really wanted her to come back with him and if she was still anything like herself, she would fall for it and agree to come back into his life. He really could not see what could possibly go wrong with his plan.

So with renewed confidence in his steps, Joker trotted up the remaining stairs until he reached the very top, sixth floor, where he turned right into the doorway and stepped out into a very lavish, red carpeted hallway. In his text, Dotcom had also included that he lived in apartment 6G and as Joker stood in front of that particular door, he took another deep breath. Jayde was on the other side, sleeping soundly, completely unaware that he had driven over seven hundred miles to see her. She was so close, he could practically taste her lips on his and as he imagined the sort of look he would find on her face, he licked his own lips, pausing to let his tongue poke nervously at the scar on the left side of his mouth.

_Alright, Tre. Help me out._

Glancing down, his eyes caught sight of a tiny corner of a white piece of paper, sticking out from underneath the mat at his feet. He bent down to pull it out, only to sigh with a frown when he pulled out a tiny slip of paper with a key attached to it. Sloppy, all caps writing had been scrawled across the paper…

"_First door on the right down the hallway"_

Joker let out a short snort of annoyance as he plucked the key from the paper. Apparently Dotcom had been under the impression that Joker was not perfectly capable of breaking into his apartment and although this normally would have left him feeling slightly insulted, Joker pushed past this and used the key, more than ready to get this over with.

The door made absolutely no noise as he pushed it open, stepping inside silently to slide it closed behind him, clicking the deadbolt back into place before he turned to face the interior of the dark apartment. Taking a couple steps forward, Joker glanced around, immediately recognizing the white couches and dark wooden end tables from the house in Gotham, even in the dark, and he rolled his eyes. _Figures…_he thought grouchily to himself as he slipped his coat from his shoulders, dropping it onto one of the chairs at the table.

Dotcom's apartment was completely quiet, so Joker matched the silence with his footfall, walking slowly and carefully toward the hallway and toward that first door on the right. His stomach was now in full blown knots, his chest pounding and aching as though every organ in his body was now feeling the effect of being so close to her. His eyes glanced downward to where he could see a thin sliver of flickering blue light coming from underneath the first door on the right and he could not help but smirk to himself. Apparently, she had not yet lost the habit of falling asleep with the tv on.

As his hand reached out for the knob, again Joker hesitated, his fingers curling inward toward the palm of his hand as he asked himself for the one hundredth time if he really wanted to go through with this. Jayde was laying there, asleep, right on the other side of this door. She could wake up and immediately begin screaming at him, or crumble into tears and embrace him, completely forgetting about what had happened between them. The first scenario seemed much more likely, but Joker had always been known for his ability to smooth-talk his way out of just about any situation, so after taking a deep breath to ineffectively try to quiet his pounding, racing heart, he wrapped his fingers around the knob, turned, then pushed, slowly, silently.

The blue light from underneath the door filled the room as he stepped inside, his eyes wide as he scanned the bed across from him. However, it could have been the fact that his eyes were not yet adjusted to the dark, but as he quietly and gently closed the door behind him, he could have _sworn_ it appeared as though the bed was empty…Then he heard an all too familiar click…

Joker spun quickly to face the door he had just closed, backing up several steps into the room as a small shape appeared in the shadows, a familiar, black gun clutched in her hand as she took a step toward him. He swallowed hard when the feeling of being sick became overwhelming, once he had noticed the livid, vaguely familiar expression on Jayde's face, her features looking more evil than he had ever seen them as the light from the tv across the room cast shadows across her.

"Uh-…" he started stupidly, glancing down at the gun in her hand before back up at her face. "Hi." He then said as simply as possible, completely surprised by the small grin that somehow tugged upwards on his scars. Even this mad, after a whole week, she _still _looked pretty.

"What do you want?" she asked harshly, taking another half-step toward him, that gun still pointed directly at the middle of Joker's chest. Instinctually, he took another step backward but glanced behind him when he felt the back of his legs hit the end of the bed. His hands began to raise slowly.

"We both know you're not gonna shoot me, Jayde…" he replied bravely, his voice now level. "So just…put the gun down." He went on to add, motioning toward the tall dresser to the left of her. However, as Jayde took yet another step in his direction, he looked down at her, secretly holding his breath.

"You don't know that," she spat in response, now so close to him that the barrel of the gun came to rest right in the middle of his chest, the cool metal tangible even through his warm shirt. She was right; Joker _didn't _know she wasn't going to shoot him but he honestly couldn't blame her if she did. A tiny thrill of anger shot through Joker out of nowhere and he reached out, wrapping his fingers around her wrist to pull her hand closer and dig the barrel of the gun into his chest.

"Well if you're gonna kill me, do it now please. I'm pretty tired." He growled down at her, his eyes locking defiantly onto hers as she stared straight up at him, her full lips pursed together. Silence descended as heavily as a velvet blanket as they glared at each other in the darkness, wondering wildly who would make the next move, like some dangerous game of chess. However, a few drawn out moments later, Jayde took a step back, looking down at the gun in her hands to unlock the safety and she turned her back to him to set it down on the dresser by the door. Joker sighed in mingled relief and disappointment; having her kill him would have been a rather poetic justice to their situation, not to mention save him from cutting himself open so she could watch him bleed. Jayde turned back to him, crossing her arms over her chest and Joker glanced her over, taking note of the extra long, white linen pajama pants and the dark red, long sleeved shirt she was wearing. Something else was different about her, but before he could figure out what is was, Jayde was speaking again, in that same dull, harsh tone.

"What do you want?" she asked him a second time, hardly able to believe she was still feeling so bitter, even when he was standing right there in front of her. And as Joker glanced around himself awkwardly, Jayde tilted her head to the side, glancing him up and down. Something about him seemed different, but in the dark, she couldn't tell what yet...This felt like either a really good dream or a really bad one…she was not sure yet.

"I uh-…wanted to talk to you," he eventually answered, dropping his arms to his sides in a defeated sort of way. "But-…how did you know-" He started to ask, but Jayde cut him off.

"Dotcom told me." she answered curtly, watching impatiently as Joker rolled his eyes, bringing a hand up to run frustratedly through his hair. She continued on, hoping to keep the upper hand while he was distracted by feeling irritated at his former employee for spilling the news. "What did you want to talk to me about? Come to tell me how stupid I am? Had to get one last insult in?" She asked, anger and bitterness dripping from her words like venom. Across from her, Joker sighed through his nose, shaking his head slowly.

"_Actually, _ I came to apologize. But you _clearly _have no interest in hearing-…" he went to explain, but again, Jayde interrupted, unfolding her arms to let her hands rest on her hips in that characteristic manner that he had _so _missed.

"Why come all the way here just to apologize?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she shook her head slightly in confusion. "Why not just call-" This time, it was Joker's turn to cut her off.

"You turned off your phone," he explained as though she did not know this. He paused however, and took a deep breath, rolling his eyes slightly as he quickly searched for a different way to word this. "And…I wanted to see you." At this, Jayde laughed rather loudly in skepticism, tossing her head back slightly.

"Please, Joker," she spat. "Before I left, you _never _wanted to see me. You treated me like _shit."_

"I know…" Joker grumbled, his eyes sliding along the floor, doing everything in his power to avoid Jayde's gaze as she took a step toward him, like a puppy being scolded for peeing on a rug.

"You _used me-…" _she went on.

"I _know…"_

"You HIT me-"

"I KNOW!" Joker raised his voice, tossing his hands. "Jesus, Jayde! I know exactly what happened! And I-…I feel like a piece of fucking shit, ok?"

"You SHOULD!" she shouted back, taking yet another step toward him, unfolding her arms to poke him hard one time in the chest. "I did nothing but try to help you and all you did was take it out on me! I mean, it's not MY fault Tre died!"

"You're right! IT'S MINE!" Joker finally shouted and before he could stop himself, his knees buckled, pulling him down into a sitting position on the very end of the bed. His head dropped as he leaned forward, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes and to Jayde's disbelief, his shoulders heaved slightly as a deep, soft sob escaped him. Surprisingly, he continued a second later, his voice deeper and muffled from behind his hands. "I've never had to deal with-" he tried to complete his sentence but it seemed and invisible hand had caught a hold of his throat, choking his words back down and his shoulders moved again as his head bowed even further, his fingers sliding upward into the front of his hair.

If Jayde did not know any better, she would almost say that he was only doing this to win sympathy points from her. But as the Joker cried into his hands as silently as he could, she knew this was no act. He had never been one to let his emotions show, even happiness most of the time and now, as he mourned openly in front of her, Jayde knew this was only because he had forced himself to hold it in for so long and despite the fact that she had been waiting for this to happen, she was stunned into immobility, seemingly frozen where she stood.

Before her, the tips of Joker's black and white high top Converse touched together against the floor as he sat hunched over, looking almost like a little boy who had not made the baseball team. Part of her wanted to admit privately that he looked somewhat cute sitting there, but the other parts of her knew he was probably _very_ deep down hoping she would do something to convince him what he was doing was the right thing. So she forced herself forward, reaching out both hands to wrap her fingers around his wrists gently. However, the moment she made contact with him, his entire body tensed and he pushed her away, another deep, quiet sob leaving him but this time, Jayde stood her ground.

"No," she murmured, moving forward until she could push his arms apart and sit down sideways on his lap. Joker groaned in annoyance and embarrassment but Jayde ignored him, blinking hard as hot, salty tears instantly met her eyes when he finally allowed her to touch him. Her arms moved to wrap securely around his broad shoulders, whimpering softly when the light from the tv caught the side of Joker's face, illuminating the glistening trails against his cheeks and in the grooves of his scars where tears had passed and traveled down to his neck.

"Don't…" he mumbled, shaking his head to turn it away from her, but Jayde again ignored his attempt to push her comfort away and reached out with both of her hands, turning his face back toward her. At first he resisted, but once he seemingly realized she was not giving up this time, he reluctantly turned to her, opening his eyes slowly when her thumbs traced the deep scars on either side of his mouth.

Jayde felt her heart break into a thousand pieces as she watched warm tears leak from the corners of Joker's glistening brown eyes but she struggled hard against her own tears, forcing herself to appear strong for him.

"Listen to me," she practically whispered, staring deep into his eyes. "It was _not _your fault. There's no way any of us could have seen that coming." She explained softly, blinking hard when the bridge of Joker's nose wrinkled and his eyes slid closed to fight off another bout of fresh tears. "It was an accident, Joker." She finished, her voice quivering when she could no longer keep her tears back and finally, _finally, _Joker wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face against her neck as he held her close to him. A deeper, heavier sob escaped him, wracking his entire chest as his hot tears soaked through her shirt.

"I miss him," he admitted, his voice deep and gruff but laced with weeks of grief and torment and Jayde nodded against the side of his face, her own tears now causing her to tremble slightly.

"I know," she whispered. "I'm so sorry…"

For several, long minutes, Jayde sat there in his lap, holding his shoulders as he wept openly against her, finally letting out all the sadness he had been holding back, and the entire time, Jayde kept her grip around him tight and secure, gently running her nails along his shoulder so he could still feel her there. He was shivering vaguely, for no other reason that she could think of beyond the fact that so much tension and pent up anger was now leaving his body like bad energy, leaving him feeling probably weak but also relieved in the biggest way possible. However, after a few days or minutes, Jayde was not sure nor cared, Joker let go, clearing his throat as he brought his hands up to his face, using the ends of his long-sleeved shirt sleeves to wipe the remaining tears from his face. He looked up at her, his brown eyes slightly swollen and watery.

"I'm sorry, Jayde, I didn't mean to hit you," he admitted in a low, raspy growl.

While Jayde was positive his apology would have been refreshing, she _had _to find out, she had to ask him the one question that had been burned in the back of her mind like a red hot cattle brand. She interrupted him, her own tears welling up along her bottom eyelids.

"You told me…that…I wasn't your girl. And that…you weren't my man…Is that really-…" she went on to ask in a very stammered, stumbled form of a question, but Joker did not let her finish and he shook his head.

"I don't know what the fuck I was talking about," he stated, linking his hands around her waist as he sniffed a few times, glancing down at her lap on top of his nervously. "You've always been my girl…I just-…I couldn't let you go." He explained with a shrug, lifting his eyes up to meet hers again, finally allowing a small, weary smirk onto his face. "I missed you."

Jayde's lips pursed together as her nose wrinkled and she reached up, placing her hands on either side of his face to press one light kiss against his scarred lips.

"I love you, Joker." She whimpered, nudging his damp cheek with the tip of her nose.

"I know you do."

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A/N: WEEEEEEEEEEEE! LEAVE A REVIEW IF YOU LOVE JOKER AND JAYDE! -QoM

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Oh and check out the song, Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars. It's the song that inspired this chapter.


	16. Permanent

. Warning: Extreme Fluff in the following chapter.

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The Joker was not entirely sure what time it had been when he fell asleep the previous night, he only knew that he had slept better than he had in what felt like years. And yet surprisingly, he had still woken up before ten o' clock, laying in the middle of the bed in Dotcom's guest room, with a peaceful, and admittedly _very_pretty girl just next to him. As had always been usual for them, they had fallen asleep and stayed in the same position all night, with Joker on his stomach, Jayde just next to him on her side, facing him.

After crying like a _bitch,_that exhaustion, that overwhelming fatigue that had accumulated steadily over the past eight days hit him like a semi-truck, leaving him hardly able to keep his eyes open. Jayde had seemingly noticed this and had eventually moved to the head of the bed, patting the space next to her as she lay down. Like a zombie, he had crawled toward her before collapsing, his face in the pillows, barely noticing that he still had his shoes on. Jayde had then watched him fall asleep, raking her nails lightly along his back beneath his shirt…as if his brain needed any encouragement on it's way to a state of unconsciousness.

It had been tempting, incredibly so, to lay there after waking and stare at the exposed, scar-less side of Jayde's face as she slept, to take in and study the way her pouty, perfect lips just barely parted, exposing a few centimeters of the straight white teeth behind them. But as foggy memories from the night before flooded his mind, like a dream he was just then remembering, Joker had felt an emotion begin to wrap itself around him, one with which he was not very familiar- embarrassment.

Now, after slinking from the room as silently as possible, Joker stepped out onto the brightly sunlit patio, pushing frilly, sheen white curtains out of his way. It was fortunate he had thought to grab his long black coat from the chair at the table before coming outside as it was surprisingly chilly out, being that New York was a bit more north than Chicago, and he shivered vaguely, using his hands in the deep pockets to push the edges of the coat toward the middle of his chest.

The street below was already busy on that Sunday morning, full of passers-by and random people sitting out for breakfast at one of the small café's that lined Greenwich avenue. So after turning one of the high-top chairs toward the railing of the balcony and moving the other to face him so he could stretch his legs comfortably across from him, Joker leaned back, reaching out for the pack of cigarettes and lighter that were conveniently sitting on the table…as though someone had known he would want one.

As he lit one and inhaled deeply, Joker cringed, begging his mind not to venture back to the previous night and the way he had been unable to prevent himself from fully breaking down, in front of the one person that mattered, no less. He would have loved dearly to blame his emotional melt down of sorts on the fact that he had been exhausted, underfed and nearly delirious from driving so long without stopping, but deep down, he knew that was not the truth. Since that fateful night, he had only actually _cried_once or twice, and only for a minute or two at a time before he could make himself stop, tell himself to suck it up, keep a brave face on. However, something about verbally admitting the fact that he blamed himself for Tre's death had quite literally brought him to his knees and suddenly he had found himself unable to stop crying…Jayde forcing herself onto his lap to wrap her arms around his shoulders had not exactly helped either…

And yet as surprising as he found it, he felt leagues better and with a jolt, he realized that pain in his chest was now gone. In fact, he felt rather like his old self again, albeit still fairly tired and now hungry enough to eat the entire table sitting next to him and Joker was just wondering what he felt like eating when the French door to the right of him swung outward slowly. A second later, Jayde stepped out, her arms folded across her chest, hugging herself against the cold as she grinned sleepily at him…Joker felt his empty stomach turn over when he noticed the way the sun hit her partially squinted, electric blue eyes.

"Hi," she greeted him, her voice soft but somewhat raspy with residual grogginess and she gave a little shiver as a breeze blew past the patio. A refreshing, long lost smirk tugged upward on Joker's left scar.

"Hi," he responded, before glancing her up and down quickly. She was still wearing just those thin, linen pajama pants and the thermal long sleeved shirt and as if she knew he was about to offer her his coat, she took a few steps toward him, bringing one of her socked feet up to the short rail near the bottom of the chair legs, pushing herself up until she could climb onto his lap. Joker hummed in content as she settled onto him sideways, nestling herself against his chest, between the edges of his coat but before she could get comfortable and rest her head against his shoulder, he held out his partially finished cigarette to her.

Jayde took it from him, bringing it to her lips to take a long, warming drag from it and Joker watched, his eyes raking along her side profile as though he had not seen her in months. Her scar was exactly the same, as it always would be, but something else, something more subtle was different about her as Joker could remember noticing the previous night.

"You cut your hair," he stated after a few moments, watching with that same smirk as Jayde quickly turned her to head to gape at him, as though shocked he had noticed. Her slight frown of surprise morphed quickly into a rather pleased grin as she nodded, handing the cigarette back to him.

"Yeah, I did," she answered, glancing down to watch Joker's hand as he put the butt of the now finished cigarette in the ashtray to the left of them. "Do you…like it?" she then went on to ask somewhat hesitantly, watching his brown eyes closely as he reached up to lightly let his thumb and pointer finger glide along one of her tighter, bouncier curls that now fell only halfway down her back. He nodded a few seconds later.

"Yeah," he replied. "I do."

Jayde sighed happily, moving to practically lay down against him with her cheek against the softest part of his chest, near the comfortable section where his shoulder met his body. She let out a soft hum when Joker moved his arms to close the edges of his coat around her.

"And _your_hair isn't green at all anymore," she commented after a few seconds, tilting her head back to peer up at a few of the ends of his now completely blonde waves that just rested on his shoulder against his neck. A quiet giggle left her before she added, "You look like a surfer, dude…" Her grin expanded when Joker grunted a genuine laugh, shaking his head slightly to toss his hair away from his face as a breeze blew it there.

"Totally, brah…"

Peaceful silence settled over the porch, leaving them to sit there comfortably, Jayde with her ear to his chest, listening to his slow, steady heartbeat while Joker struggled to keep his eyes open. It had been so long since he felt this at ease, despite the fact that a nagging question lingered in the back of his mind, hovering around like a pesky gnat. He wanted to ask her and knew that it would bother him until he did, but for the life of him, Joker could not figure out how to word it and not sound completely pathetic…not that it mattered anymore…Jayde probably thought he was a complete pussy now…He cleared his throat, shifting slightly in the seat beneath her gentle weight.

"I um-…" he started then paused, but instantly wished he had not, as Jayde tilted her head back to look up at the side of his face. "I hope you still…respect me after…ya know…" he finished rather awkwardly, cursing inwardly when Jayde sat up, turning slightly on his lap to look down at him. At first, he avoided her eyes, focusing his gaze on the edge of the table, knowing how stupid and awkward he would feel by making eye contact with her. But as the seconds ticked on, he realized she was waiting for him to look at her before she spoke, so he reluctantly brought his gaze up, blinking slowly as she stared down at him.

"I respect you _more_after last night," she told him bluntly, shaking her head slightly. "I know it took a lot for you to…open up or whatever and…I'm just really glad you came here." She paused, grinning down at him. Thinking she was done, Joker nodded an understanding and looked away again, but Jayde reached out, gently turning his face back toward hers. Her grin expanded at the somewhat uncomfortable expression in his eyes. "I missed you…a lot." She eventually admitted, bringing her hand from the side of his chin to rest on his chest, but only for a moment before she lay back down on her side, her cheek resting against him once again. It seemed she understood that Joker was not looking for any sort of deep, follow-up conversation about what had transpired between them the night before and for that, he could never express how thankful he was. His hands met along her side and his fingers linked together as he closed his eyes, his scarred cheek rested against the top of her head.

Just then, both jumped when the French door swung open quickly and Dotcom leaned out, his eyebrows raised from behind his glasses as he looked from Jayde to Joker and back once or twice. Joker kept a fixed, blank glare on his face, while Jayde suddenly leaned forward and moved to climb down from his lap as if thinking it would embarrass him for Dotcom to see them sitting like that, but to her surprise, Joker tightened his grip around her side, forcing her to stay where she was.

"Don't," he murmured as Dotcom walked over. "You're keeping me warm."

At the time, Jayde ignored this, struggling hard against the full-blown retard-happy smile that was itching her face and instead, she stayed put per his instructions, but sat up straight on his lap. As Dotcom rounded the table to stand on the other side and light one the cigarettes he had apparently left outside overnight, Jayde watched him, waiting until he made eye contact with her before she shared a private grin with him, both obviously very pleased with the way things had worked out. A moment later, Dotcom cleared his throat, wiggling his nose to push his glasses up as he looked to Joker.

"I see you made it," he stated, glancing downward at the small tray as he tapped a bit of ash into it, leaning forward on his forearms against the table. At first, Joker glanced up at Jayde, but then looked to Dotcom, raising his eyebrows.

"I see you're still listening to 'Obvious XM radio'," he growled sarcastically, his gaze drifting away, which left Jayde and Dotcom to lock eyes again, grinning at each other in relief; it seemed a little of Joker's old self was already returning. A few moments later, Dotcom spoke up again, arching an eyebrow as he let his gaze flicker up and down the visible half of Joker's body.

"You look…different," he commented, tilting his head to the side inquisitively as he tried to figure out why. "I mean your hair isn't green but…I don't know, you look…thinner or…something."

Again, Joker glanced up at Jayde when she in turn looked down at him, pressing her hand against his flat stomach to pat him there lightly, as if trying to gauge how much he had diminished. A small scowl appeared on his face as he shifted his shoulders somewhat awkwardly, unsure of how he could admit this without giving away the fact that he had been ninety percent incapable of doing anything normal while Jayde had been away. He linked his hands together over his stomach, hoping they wouldn't hear how loudly it was growling.

"Let's just say I haven't had much of an appetite lately." He eventually admitted rather sheepishly, keeping his eyes on Dotcom to avoid seeing the tiny grin that had just jumped onto Jayde's face. However, as though he knew exactly what was behind his answer, Dotcom went on, glancing at Jayde as a knowing little smirk appeared on his own face.

"Well…how long has it been since you slept for more than an hour?" he asked transparently. Joker rolled his eyes slowly to look up at Jayde and his eyebrows furrowed when he found her watching him closely.

"How long has it been since you left?" he asked her, then watched as she hesitated, counting silently before she answered.

"Eight days." She replied a few seconds later, but then smiled down at him when Joker pointed at her, turning his head back to face Dotcom, giving him the answer to his question. A doe-eyed, wistful expression glazed over Dotcom's eyes, almost as though he were seconds from letting out a loud '_awwww!__' _, but fortunately, he refrained and instead put his cigarette out, standing up from leaned on the table.

"Well, I'll go make some breakfast," he then announced, casting one last, rather congratulatory grin at Jayde and Joker before he retreated back into the warmth of the apartment, leaving the two alone again on the patio. With a content sigh, Jayde gently lay back down against Joker's chest but turned slightly so her back was to him, nearly copying his pose as she crossed her ankles together over his shins comfortably.

"I went out with him and his friends the other night…" she told him quietly and somewhat tentatively, knowing it would do neither of them any good to let slip that she had been kissing some stranger while there; he really didn't need to know. Joker grunted, bringing his hands around either side of her to link his fingers together over where she had folded her own hands across her middle.

"Yeah?" he asked, closing his eyes. "How was that?"

Again, Jayde sighed, taking a deep breath in through her nose before she exhaled heavily.

"…Gay."

She grinned to herself when Joker let out one of those wonderful, genuine laughs that she had _so_missed hearing, before he turned his head to press his lips against her temple.

"_God,_I missed you."

Before long, Dotcom was opening the patio doors again, leaning out momentarily to announce that breakfast was ready so Jayde sat up and inched toward the edge of Joker's knee. But when he made no effort to stand up behind her, she paused, looking back at him with a slightly confused frown.

"You should come eat," she told him lightly, still a bit hesitant to flat out instruct him to do something, but a moment later, a tiny smirk appeared on her face when he stared at her blankly. "I've felt your stomach vibrating on my back this whole time."

With a groan, Joker finally moved to bring his legs down from the chair across from him, but paused, his shoulders slumping slightly as he held his arms out to her.

"Carry me?" he asked, but then poked out his scarred bottom lip when Jayde laughed and shook her head. She took a step toward him, wrapping her fingers as far around his forearms as she could to tug him into a standing position. Her hand patted his empty, rumbling stomach as he draped his arm loosely around her shoulders.

"You've lost weight, but not _that_much…" she grumbled, laughing again when Joker leaned more heavily than necessary on her as they moved toward the patio doors. "And after you eat, you're taking a nap."

"But, _Mooomm__…__..__"_ Joker growled, letting his head drop back in sarcastic irritation, his deep, raspy voice sounding absolutely nothing like a frustrated kid. Again, Jayde giggled, glancing over at Dotcom at the table as she led the zombie-like Joker toward it.

It seemed, from the fatty, calorie-rich breakfast of pancakes, bacon and home-fried potatoes that Dotcom was taking an active role in helping jumpstart Joker's weight gain plan but neither he nor Jayde were surprised when it did not take very long for Joker to eat his fill. And since neither were about to sit there and coax him to eat more, and seeing how neither of them had finished eating yet, they watched quietly as Joker groaned and stood up from the table in something of a daze, shuffling sleepily down the hallway and into the guest room, before closing the door behind him. Jayde poked at a piece of pancake with her fork distractedly, grinning stupidly to herself as Dotcom watched.

"So I take it you guys are alright now?" he noted quietly a few moments later, pulling Joker's empty plate and fork toward him to carry it into the kitchen with his own. Jayde looked up with her eyebrows raised, but then decided she was done with her breakfast as well and stood up, following him as she shrugged.

"I _think_so," she answered, stepping into the kitchen behind him to set her plate and fork down in the sink. "I _hope_so…" She then added a few seconds later under her breath. Dotcom looked over at her, his eyebrows furrowed.

"That was a trick question," he told her as he reached out to turn on the water from the sink. "You guys are _fine,_you just said that so you wont get your hopes up. But trust me, if he drove all the way here to see you, you can guarantee he wont fuck up again any time soon." He went on to explain, absentmindedly scrubbing sticky maple syrup from one of the plates. "And you heard him! He couldn't eat or sleep or…do _anything_when you were gone. So just enjoy it."

Jayde shrugged, reaching out for one of the wet plates he had just set on the counter to load it into the dishwasher. "I guess you're right, I just don't want to-" she was right in the middle of explaining herself but Dotcom lightly swatted the top of her hand, taking the dish from her.

"Ah, ah! I'll do this, you go lay down with your man," he instructed, grinning at her when she frowned. "I'm sure he's simply _pining_for you…" he then added sarcastically, giggling to himself when Jayde rolled her eyes and left the kitchen…although she had a feeling Dotcom was maybe a little bit right.

At the door to the guest room, Jayde reached out for the knob but found herself somewhat surprised to find that Joker had not completely closed it all the way, and had instead left a _tiny_crack between the door and the frame. She pushed it open slowly, wondering if he had been too exhausted to focus hard enough on pushing it all the way shut, or if he had been hoping she would eventually join him. However, it did not matter to her either way and a huge, silly smile met her face when she spotted him, seemingly fast asleep on his side, facing the empty side of the bed, one arm tucked up underneath the pillow, the other stretched out in front of him. As she approached the edge of the bed, she was not sure what it was about him, if it was the color of his honey golden, blonde hair against the white bedding, or the position in which he lay that was making him look so innocent and almost angelic, but as she stopped closer to openly stare at him, she jumped when Joker's deep, sleepy voice broke the peaceful silence in the room.

"I know I look adorable, but you _can_lay down, ya know…" he growled, slowly peeling open his one visible eye to look up at her and Jayde giggled quietly, leaning down to crawl toward him on her hands and knees. As she approached, he lifted his arm, leaving just enough space for her to slide up close to him after she had lay down to face him. His arm dropped heavily onto her side and that one visible brown eye remained open, but only for a few moments to blink sleepily several times at her before it slid closed again. He took a deep breath in through his nose.

"I was _hoping_you'd come in here…" he growled a few seconds later, confirming Jayde's earlier suspicions upon entering the room and she grinned hard into the pillow, reaching out her hand to lightly trace the neckline of his warm shirt.

"Yeah, but I'm going to go take a shower in a minute, then I may go to the market with Dotcom," she explained, her gaze drifting up from where her finger was now gently stroking the front of his neck when she noticed his eye slide open again. She shrugged a second later, rolling her eyes. "He goes every Sunday…" At this, she sat up, but leaned down once more to press a light kiss to his cheek before she scooted to the edge of the bed, glancing over her shoulder at him as she went. "Besides, you need to sleep."

With a deep groan, Joker rolled onto his back, curling his toes to crack them before doing the same with his fingers. "_Fine__…"_ he groaned, turning his head to watch as Jayde paused at the closet, to reach in and pull out a clean towel, but before she could make it to the door, he called out quietly. "Hey," he grunted, pushing himself up to rest on his elbows behind him. Jayde turned to look at him with her eyebrows raised but then smirked as he beckoned for her to come back toward him. "C'mere."

Crawling back along the bed, Jayde paused once she was less than a foot from him and was about to ask what he wanted when Joker reached up with his left hand, his fingers instinctively finding the back of her neck to pull her a few inches closer so his lips could meet hers gently. She sighed against him, completely baffled by the fact that she had not noticed the absence of the most important part of 'making up', but now that they were there, she felt herself practically melting into the bed at the feel of his scarred bottom lip between hers. That passionate, but not forceful aspect of his kisses, the part she had missed the most was so present that it truthfully made her feel like crying, but she felt she had already done enough of that the previous night and instead choked them back to remain focused on returning his affection properly.

It seemed from the way that Joker kept his tongue to himself, that he, like Jayde, felt somewhat hesitant to try and move things too quickly after the past week. But then again, he _was_extremely tired, so after several long moments, she pulled away, licking her lips slowly. She grinned a moment later as Joker's sleepy eyes slid open to gaze up at her.

"You need to sleep now," she practically whispered, leaning down quickly to leave him with one last peck on the nose before she backed off of the bed and before she could even close the door behind her, the Joker was fast asleep.

At the closed door to Dotcom's bedroom, Jayde held her towel beneath her arm before knocking twice, pausing to listen for noises from within, but only a second later, his voice called out.

"Come in!"

After pushing open the door, Jayde found him sitting at the small desk on the far side of his room, typing something on a laptop, but he paused as she stepped into the room, turning in his chair to glance over his shoulder at her. He smirked before he turned back to the computer, pushing his glasses up further on his nose.

"I'm surprised you're not in the other room with 'Sleeping Beauty'," he stated with a giggle at his own clever, sarcastic nickname for Joker. "Thought you two would be inseparable today."

Jayde rolled her eyes, taking a heavy seat on the edge of Dotcom's bed, just behind him at the desk. "Yeah, well, I'm not tired and he can barely keep his eyes open." She explained, fidgeting with a stray fiber of material from the leg of her pajama pants. "So I would probably only keep him awake if I stayed in there…Plus I need to take a shower." At this, she stood up from the bed determinedly before walking over toward the huge, brick bathroom, but paused when she heard Dotcom's swivel chair turn to face the room. She turned, locking eyes with him, where they stared at each other for several long moments, before he blinked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"Are you glad he came up here?" he asked, and although the most obvious answer would be yes, it seemed Dotcom was asking for the more honest, completely open answer from her. Jayde took a deep breath, her shoulders slumping slightly when she exhaled a moment later.

"Yeah, I am," she answered at first, but then paused when Dotcom's eyebrows started to raise. "No, I really am, honest, I just…I don't want this to be some…temporary thing with him." she went on to explain, shrugging when her eyes fell to the carpet. "I don't want to go back to Chicago then have things go back to the way they were." She paused again, bringing her eyes back up to meet his across the room, but only for a moment or two before she turned into the bathroom. "I don't think I can go through that again."

Once she had stripped down and turned on the water, Jayde stepped into the warm streams, shivering slightly, but grinning to herself as her mind went back to the previous night and how good it had felt to fall asleep next to the Joker again. Up until a week ago, Jayde had almost completely forgotten what it felt like to be alone in a big bed, with all that space to herself, but rather quickly, after only two or three nights of getting used to it again, she was reminded vividly of how much she disliked it. Of course, she had denied that, telling herself that she loved being able to spread out without any worry of waking up the person next to her. But after the previous night, curled up next to Joker, being practically rocked to sleep by the sound of his deep, even, breathing, Jayde rather hoped she could experience that comfort every night for the rest of her life.

But as Jayde had just told Dotcom, if she were to return to Chicago with Joker and things were to revert back to the way it had been before she left, she was fairly positive her heart would either spontaneously combust or else whither away into absolute nothingness. Yes, Joker had taken a big leap of faith in driving all the way to New York, and had taken an even bigger risk in breaking down so thoroughly in front of her, but seeing how he was quite the charmer and an extraordinary actor when he wanted to be, she had to make absolutely sure this change for the better was permanent and not just a result of his solitary confinement for the past eight days. She wasn't sure how she was going to bring it up, but if being around the Joker had taught her anything over the past year, it was that the answers to the riddles in life presented themselves in a series of opportune moments and more often than not, when one least expected it…Jayde prayed her opportune moment would present itself soon.

Before long, Jayde had washed her hair and body, taking a few extra minutes to shave her legs before getting out, bracing herself for the frigid, hurried trot down the hall to the guest room and she wondered vaguely how she was going to get dressed without waking Joker up. It was true, she had been naked in front of him many times in the past, but after being separated for whole week, Jayde was not sure if she was ready to be fully unclothed in front of him, as it was more than likely the scent of her coconut shampoo would wake him up the moment she entered the room. She hoped he would understand without having to explain herself in what would likely be a very stammered and awkward answer.

The inside of the guest room was exactly as she had left it, although at some point, Joker had turned from his back onto his stomach, his long legs stretched all the way down so his socked toes just rested over the foot of the bed. However, instead of using the pillow beneath his head, it was now tucked under his left arm, his cheek against the mattress itself. His face was turned away from her, but from the way his back rose and fell evenly, slowly, Jayde assumed he was asleep and moved toward the closet, clutching the towel around her body.

Her clothes were mostly clean, having washed them only a day or two prior and Jayde had just selected a pair of jeans, a white long sleeved shirt and hot pink ankle socks when she turned to leave the room, but hesitated, her eyes falling onto the bed when she noticed that Joker had turned his head. His eyes were now open and he blinked up at her, slowly, as he inhaled deeply through his nose, only to exhale a moment later with a quiet, sleepy groan. Jayde tried hard not to grin but could not help but tighten her lips when Joker's jaw dropped in a heavy yawn.

"You're not done sleeping yet," she told him quietly, pulling her eyes away from his admittedly adorable, rather boyish, groggy appearance to readjust the stack of clothes in her arm.

"And you're not naked yet," he replied only a second later, smirking when Jayde's slightly widened eyes jumped over to meet his again. "Go ahead," he went on, bringing his hand to his face to cover his eyes. "I wont watch…" His pointer finger then parted from the middle one, leaving a small space through which Jayde could just see one of his brown eyes and she laughed, shaking her head as she moved toward the door.

"Nice try," she tossed over her shoulder. "But I'm going to go change in the bathroom and _you_are gonna sleep for a couple more hours." On the bed, Joker groaned in frustration, turning his head to push his face into the mattress, so Jayde left the room, closing the door behind her as she went, forcefully ignoring the way she privately wished she had the guts to strip down and stand there naked in front of him.

Inside the bathroom, Jayde looked up from buttoning her jeans when Dotcom's voice traveled through the door from his bedroom.

"You wanna come to the market with me?" he asked more loudly than was necessary. "You can help me pick out something fattening so we can plump your man back up!" At this, Jayde could not help but laugh, and when she opened the door to find him standing right there, she grinned, nodding.

"Sure."

It was rather fortunate that the market Dotcom usually frequented was so close to the apartment; it was absolutely freezing outside. She wasn't sure if it was possibly just a cold front sweeping the northeast section of the country or if winter was really already there to stay, but either way, Jayde was shivering as she and Dotcom perused the aisles and carts of fresh vegetables and other produce. At first, he had been talking about making a creamy baked potato soup, but after being reminded that Joker was lactose intolerant and anything 'creamy' would really upset his stomach, he moved away from the root vegetables.

Dotcom had just found a large stand of many, varied sizes and colors of heirloom tomatoes when he caught Jayde's attention. He pulled one large, purple and red tomato from the group to inspect it but glanced over at her with an eyebrow arched.

"You gonna tell him about that guy at the club?" he asked randomly, somewhat quietly as though Joker had somehow thought to bug the produce stand. Jayde shrugged, her stomach knotting up when she remembered how she had been wondering that exact same thing earlier. She supposed it was fortunate she now had the opportunity to talk it over with an outside, objective party.

"I don't think so," she answered, moving around him to stand on his left, pretending to be interested in a small carton of tiny, jewel tomatoes. "I don't really see why I should…I mean…he would probably only get mad even though…he probably did _more_than just kiss someone while I was away…" At this, Jayde felt her stomach clench up, shocked that something so accusatory had even come out of her mouth…although now that she thought of it…it did seem somewhat likely. Beside her, Dotcom was rolling his eyes, tucking several tomatoes into the plastic bag dangling from his forearm.

"Jayde, you are so…Do you _really_think he could just…go out and pick someone up? And do you _really_think he knows someone from his past he could just…hook up with?" he asked, his voice still lowered as several older people passed by behind them. "Girl, you underestimate how um-…famous he is. Anyone dumb enough to not recognize him is not someone he would be interested in anyways…"

Again, she shrugged, supposing he was right, but she still could not help but wonder if she ought to bring it up…just to quell her curiosity. Although, if she were to ask him, and he were to say yes, she did not think she would be able to prevent herself from crying. Just the thought of him having his hands on another woman's body was enough to make her feel physically ill…she wondered wildly if he felt the same way about her.

After deciding that it would just be easiest to make that old standby, tomato soup and braise a roast in the oven, Dotcom paid for everything he needed, plus a loaf of fresh, sourdough bread, and he and Jayde left the market, eager to get back to the apartment to warm up, maybe even toss a log or two in the fireplace. Greenwich avenue was surprisingly busy, _again,_which Jayde supposed made it less surprising but nonetheless, she found herself slightly eager to return back to Chicago, to their somewhat quiet neighborhood…that was, of course, after she spoke to Joker about whether or not the change in his temperament was permanent…

Up ahead, on the left of the sidewalk, Jayde glanced up, down one block when she noticed Dotcom's apartment building nearing. For what reason she was not sure, her eyes drifted up to the six floor balcony, the one closest to the nearest end of the building and she felt her stomach turn over when she noticed a tall figure in a black coat, leaned over slightly with his forearms on the railing. His head was turned the other way, his eyes clearly watching the people as they walked along, his messy, slept on, blonde hair whipping into his face as the chilled wind blew it about. Joker made no effort to push it away from his eyes as he turned his head to now face Dotcom and Jayde's direction, as though he had sensed a familiar energy approaching and as his eyes found hers, a tiny, sleepy smirk tugged upward on his barely visible scars, wrinkling the smile lines next to his eyes.

She wanted to wave, or call 'HI!' or make some open confirmation that she had seen him, but instead of calling attention to the fact that an apparently nationally known criminal was standing on the balcony of an apartment in New York city, she merely smiled back at him before pulling her eyes away to focus on not running into one of the many passers by.

Several minutes later, Jayde and Dotcom stepped into the apartment, pulling their scarves from around their necks to hang them on the silver coat rack by the door, but as he went on to remove his coat, Jayde kept hers on and instead moved to cross the room, toward the patio doors where she could still see the back of Joker's shape through the sheen white curtains. At the French doors, she hesitated, wondering if she ought to just sit down on the couch and let him come to her, but just as she was about to make a decision, he turned his head, rising to his full height from leaned over on the railing to look back over his shoulder to where she was standing. The smirk on his face made her decision for her.

"Was that as fun as you could have possibly dreamed?" he asked in a raspy growl, folding his arms across his torso as Jayde stepped out with a silly, girly grin on her face.

"Yes," she answered defiantly, moving past him to the railing, where she rested her hands on the freezing metal. "But I wish it wasn't so cold…" she then added, casting a quick smirk up at him as he turned to face the same direction, although a moment later, he reached out to her far hip, where he curled his fingers to tighten his grip and pull her toward him. He took a half-step back so she could slide between the front of his body and the railing, before he leaned down, once again resting his forearms there and his chin met her shoulder. Warm shivers flowed up and down her body, but she fought hard not to tremble and give away how ridiculously happy she was.

The two of them stood like that for several minutes, simply admiring the cityscape around them quietly until Jayde turned her head slightly, glancing at the side of his face.

"Did you get enough sleep?" she asked gently, sliding her hands along his black-coated forearms on either side of her. Joker shrugged, moving to rise to his full height, where he repositioned his chin to rest on the top of her head.

"Not really, but if I sleep any more, I wont sleep tonight," he explained, pausing momentarily before he went on. "And I'm really hoping to leave first thing in the morning so we can get back home at a decent time tomor-…"

Before he could finish his sentence and thusly bring up what Jayde had been hoping to talk to him about, the patio door swung open abruptly behind them and Dotcom stepped out, glancing from one to the other as they turned to face him. He looked slightly embarrassed and even a bit apologetic for interrupting.

"I um-…I wanna put a fire in the fire place but…I haven't done it before…" he admitted somewhat sheepishly, looking to Joker. "Think you can help?…"

After a quick glance down at Jayde, Joker stepped forward, pulling his coat off as they went back inside. Jayde grinned when she heard Dotcom voicing a concern.

"Just _please_don't burn the whole building down."

"I _am_capable of doing normal shit, ya know…"

"Well…"

Within minutes, after situating several large pieces of wood over a small nest of crumpled newspaper, Joker had managed to ignite a rapidly growing fire and was now seated in front of the couch, watching it, when Jayde returned inside from smoking a cigarette. He glanced up, to watch as she shed her coat but then brought his eyes back to the fire as she lay down along the couch behind him, daring herself to lightly rake her fingers up into his hair from the back of his neck. Another silly grin attacked her face when he shivered but tilted his head forward none the less, silently encouraging her to go on.

Seeing how Joker had been so distant with her since leaving Gotham, Jayde had almost forgotten how much he liked it when she scratched his scalp with her nails and how he liked to pretend he didn't care, but how he absolutely adored it when she played with his hair. So for the next half hour, that was exactly what she did, laying there on her side along the couch behind him while Joker absentmindedly watched the fire consume the wood across from him, shivering every once in the a while when she stroked the one section of his hair that seemed slightly ticklish. However, after almost forty five minutes of gently twisting her fingers into his loose, blonde curls, Dotcom called her from the kitchen, asking if she wanted to help him make the soup, so she could see how it was made, so of course, she agreed and left Joker where he sat to go join Dotcom.

The rest of the afternoon passed at a leisurely crawl, and it was well into the evening when Dotcom announced that dinner was ready. At some point, Joker found a newspaper and had buried himself into it, performing his usual ritual of reading it from cover to cover, even pausing on the funny page for a second or two but as Jayde brought several bowls of steaming hot soup, ladled artfully over generous portions of fall-apart braised meat, he set the paper down and joined them at the table. Jayde privately grinned to herself in happiness at how much better Joker seemed after the previous night, how his appetite seemed perfectly healthy again and how he seemed more than willing to allow her to touch him. However, she still had to find out whether he felt this change could be put into affect permanently…Of course, she did not expect him to change his ways, as far as his 'job' went, because she knew he would never ever do that, but if he could go on treating her with respect and patience, she would be more than willing to return to Chicago with him and stay there forever.

After dinner had been eaten, the dishes had been done and the fire rekindled, Jayde's opportune moment presented itself in the form of one empty space next to Joker on the couch. It seemed luck was on her side that day and after she had pulled a spare, white thermal blanket from the guest room closet, she took that empty spot and sat down gently next to him, bringing her socked feet up to rest on the couch, her knees raised as she tossed the blanket over herself. Beside her, Joker seemed perfectly comfortable, and from the way his eyes had not moved from watching the flames dance suggestively in the fireplace, she wondered vaguely if he had even felt her sit down. However, a second later, when he raised his arm to rest along the back of the couch behind her, and reached out with his other hand to pull her legs toward him to rest in between his own, Jayde smiled contentedly to herself, scooting a tiny bit closer to be right against the warm curve of his side. Joker took a deep breath in through his nose, before exhaling with a comfortable groan, his eyes still fixed on the fire as he contemplatively chewed on his bottom lip. A few seconds later, he finally blinked, glancing down at Jayde.

"So I figure if we get up at nine, we could leave here by ten and be home no later than six," he explained, surprising Jayde yet again by divulging a bit of his plan to her. She bypassed a taken-back expression to nod understandingly, although from the way her gaze drifted off to the fireplace away from him, Joker tilted his head forward, trying to catch her eyes again. "You…_are_coming back with me, _yes?__" _he then asked, his voice playing at a hint of clowniness. Now, it was Jayde's turn to sigh, as she finally brought her eyes back to meet his, momentarily admiring the way the warm orange glow of the fire cast a bright amber hue on his normally chocolate brown eyes. The side of her head met his arm behind her.

"If I…agree to go back with you…" she started, her gaze falling to the neckline of his shirt when she noticed how hard it was to make eye contact with him. "…I need to know that…things aren't just going to go back to how they were…before I left…" she eventually got out in it's entirety, but as Joker copied her position with his head, resting the side of it against the couch behind them, she brought her gaze back up, hoping he understood what she meant. He licked his lips, squinting slightly as he studied her, signaling his descent into discomfort with whatever he was apparently moments from admitting.

"I don't really think I could…tolerate being away…from you again," he eventually stated, in a broken and surprisingly awkward admission of how he was truly feeling. Jayde wanted to grin but did not want him to feel embarrassed so she held it back with great difficulty. "I'm willing to do what it takes to keep you from leaving again, but…if you want to stay here then…I guess I'm staying here too." He said with finality, nodding his head once, although when Jayde leaned forward to press one light kiss on his lips, he cringed, unable to keep himself from feeling awkward all over. But as Jayde pulled back, only to rest her head against his shoulderand slide her arm across his chest to hug him gently, things began to click into place. Apparently, all Jayde needed to stay happy was honesty, whether it practically hurt him to admit it or not; she just wanted to know what he was feeling.

Relief washed over him like a warm, ocean wave and Joker sighed heavily with his cheek against the side of her head, bringing his arm from behind her on the couch to her shoulder where he lightly twisted one of her curls around his finger.

"So you'll come home with me?" he asked rather tentatively a few moments later, lifting his head when he felt Jayde stir against his cheek and she looked up at him, a gentle, peaceful smile on her face as her gaze bounced back and forth between his eyes.

"Only if you kiss me first," she replied, her voice as soft and sweet as it always had been, leaving Joker completely powerless against the genuine, warming grin that pulled his scars upward.

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A/N: YAY! See? I warned you it was fluffy! But I honestly feel like this story is long overdue for some fluffiness, so I could not stop myself from adding some. LEAVE ME A REVIEW! -QoM


	17. Testing In Progress

If it had not been for something scratchy and warm brushing against her cheek the next morning, Jayde would have easily been able to sleep for another few days, curled up under the heavy blankets of Dotcom's guest bed. But as the rough, scratchy object against her face exhaled softly in her ear, a sleepy grin spread its way across her lips, her eyes opened slowly to find Joker leaning over her. He had apparently woken just moments ago and turned over to rest on his elbow, purposely rubbing his stubbly chin against her, clearly in an effort to wake her without being sickeningly romantic. Jayde felt that his efforts were somewhat in vain.

She hummed quietly against his cheek in content as he leaned back, his brown eyes meeting her blue ones.

"G'morning," she greeted him softly, bringing her left hand across her stomach to lightly grip his forearm.

"Morning," he grunted in reply, a tiny smirk appearing to tug upward on his deep scars. His fingers linked with hers as he took her hand to bring it back across her so his forearm could rest on her middle instead. "It's just after nine.." he then went on to inform her, watching her face as she sighed through her nose, sliding her eyes closed again comfortably.

"So…that means we get to sleep for another few hours right?" she asked hopefully, but then tightened her lips into a grin when Joker grunted a laugh.

"No way," he released her fingers from intertwined with his, only to push himself up into a kneeling position over her, on his hands and knees. "It _actually _means…" he went on, leaning down again to press a single, simple kiss on her lips. "-that _I'm_ going to shower and _you _are gonna get up and start packing your things, yes?"

At this, Joker pushed himself away from her, to crawl to the edge of the bed and stand up, leaving Jayde to turn onto her side and groan loudly into the pillow.

"_Fine…_"

However, instead of jumping up right away to rush into shoving all of her clothes into that one black duffle bag, Jayde lay there, watching Joker's strong, broad shoulder blades as he pulled a towel down out of the closet before he walked to the door. She wanted to say something, to get his attention so he would come back to the bed and kiss her again before he left the room, but for some reason, she could not bring herself to actually come out and say that's what she wanted. So instead, she sat up, asking something totally random, just to get him to turn around so she could see his face again.

"A-are…" she started, but then paused as he hesitated at the threshold of the door, his eyebrows now raised as he waited for her to go on. "Are you going to shave?" she then asked rather boldly, hoping he wouldn't ask her why she had chosen to ask such a thing. The short, stubbly facial hair that he normally kept nonexistent had grown in a tiny bit over the past two days casting a slightly rugged but incredibly sexy shadow across his chin, jaw and the soft area of skin below the jagged scars on his cheeks. But as another knowing smirk began to appear there on his devilishly handsome face, Jayde felt her own cheeks warming with the color of embarrassment. Her eyes dropped to her hands in her lap. "I only ask 'cause uh-…I like it…it looks good."

At this, Joker abandoned trying not to smile and laughed out loud, doubling slightly as he shook his head.

"You don't gotta lie to kick it with me, kiddo," he told her, turning his back to her to pull open the bedroom door, but only to pause halfway through and lean backwards, back into her line of vision around the corner. "But no, I'm not gonna shave…I'm not about to borrow a razor from 'Lady Godiva' and uh-…all my knives are in the car." Then with a quick double-bounce of his eyebrows, he disappeared, the sound of his soft socked footfall following him down the hardwood hallway.

Despite the fact that Joker had told her it was time to get up and start packing, Jayde felt from his recent change in attitude for the better that she might be able to push his buttons a little and get away with it, so instead of getting out of the warm, impossibly comfortable bed, she stayed where she was, laying on her back, drifting in and out of sleep. The sound of the water flowing through the pipes was acting like something of a sound machine, lulling her to sleep, like the gentle sound of rain or ocean waves. However, her imagination could not help but bring on a few images of Joker in the shower, naked, dripping wet and looking more defined than usual from his recently dissolved lack of appetite but instead of dwelling on this, she pushed the thoughts away, knowing it would do her no good to go rushing right back in to being fully intimate with him.

Yes, mentally, internally she had forgiven him for the things he had said and the way he had been acting, but that did not mean she was about to pretend like nothing had happened. If she were to let him have exactly what he wanted, right off, that marginal yet gradually increasing respect he had found for her would deteriorate almost instantly and they would be right back where they started…Remaining Joker's equal was the name of the game at this point; he had to respect her.

Unfortunately, before Jayde could slip fully into sleep, the sound of the bedroom door opening again startled her and she jumped slightly with a soft gasp, slowly turning onto her side as Joker stepped into the room, a thick white towel clutched low around his hips. A slightly aggravated sigh escaped through his nose, raising and lowering his shoulders as he paused at the far side of the bed in front of the closet. Jayde quickly let her gaze fall over his torso, noting now how much he had thinned down and how the normally faint muscles along his stomach were visible…and how she would have loved dearly to run her fingers along each of the vague lines between them. Joker cleared his throat as his eyebrows raised.

"You're not up yet." he stated, tilting his head to the side to watch as Jayde giggled playfully, burying half of her face into the pillow.

"And you're not naked yet," she replied quickly, her grin expanding as she turned Joker's own words from the day before against him. But a second later, when he abruptly dropped the towel to the carpet at his feet, she squealed, quickly bringing her hands up to cover her eyes.

"Now get up and pack your stuff," he instructed, stepping disappointedly into the boxers he just taken off only fifteen minutes prior. "I'm gonna walk down to the car to get my change of clothes and when _I get back…_you _better _be packed and dressed, a'right?"

If Jayde hadn't known better, she would almost guess that his firm and somewhat snappy instructions had been a slight recurrence of his recent bad attitude but luckily, she remembered how he had been before Tre's death; he had always been this insistent on doing things on time and according to plan. So she ignored his tone and pushed herself reluctantly up out of the bed, until she could crawl toward him on her hands and knees, slowly, like a sleepy cat just waking up from a nap in the sun. As she reached him, she rose up onto her knees where she placed her hands on his warm, bare chest, trying hard to ignore how solid and thick he felt, despite his recent weight loss. Her head cocked to the side, her hair falling onto one shoulder as Joker finally looked down at her.

"Can you kiss me first?" she forced herself to ask, her tone playful but soft as she stared up at his face, waiting anxiously for his amber brown eyes to meet hers.

Joker felt himself react to her tone but pushed his mind away from where it was begging to go. They were already behind schedule as it was, but watching her crawl toward him like that across the bed, on her hands and knees no less, had been less than kind to his increasingly perverted brain but instead of reacting on impulse and pushing her backward, he cleared his throat, shaking his head once as he pretended to inspect the tag on the inside of his shirt.

"Yes, I _can…"_ he answered, finally bringing his eyes to meet hers when he felt the hopeful, sassy expression on her face shift to show a tinge of annoyance as he teased her with semantics. A goading smirk made an appearance a moment later as his gaze bounced back and forth between her eyes, loving the way a tiny hint of frustration betrayed itself to him when she frowned slightly.

"_Will _you kiss me?" she reiterated her question, remembering back to middle school when she hated her teachers for asking '_I don't know, CAN you go to the bathroom?' _Granted, Joker was only doing this to annoy her but when she half expected him to keep going and turn up the volume on his attempts, she leaned backwards when he loomed toward her, reaching out for her hands on his chest, to link his fingers with hers.

"I don't know," he answered, his voice suddenly dropping a few levels as his knees found places on the edge of the bed. "If I kiss you…" he went on, but paused to lick his lips while his eyes flickered along her curvy figure beneath him. "-will you get up, pack and be ready by the time I get back?" His question eventually came to completion but Jayde was now barely paying attention, distracted entirely by the way Joker's lips had begun to just barely travel along her neck, again using his stubbly chin to his advantage.

"Y-yes," she finally spit out, her breath catching in her throat. Somehow, her hands had found their way to his shoulders, gripping them gently but firmly.

"You _promise?..."_ Joker then asked, his voice barely above what could be considered a whisper, although his tone remained perfectly low and raspy. Goosebumps the size of railroad spikes rose up along her arms and shoulders, even beneath her long-sleeved shirt but she ignored them, forcing herself to remain focused on her resolve from earlier about not giving into him right away. And since he was making it incredibly difficult to remain steadfast in her decision, Jayde felt it was time to even the playing field.

Using her grip on his shoulders, her fingers tightened to pull her upper body off the bed until she could wrap her arms around his neck, placing her pouty lips just below his ear; she had _not _forgotten about his secret weak spot.

"If you want me to get up, you better kiss me now, Mister Joker, or I'm not goin' anywhere…" she purred, using that dusty, sultry voice she had perfected over the past year with him. She knew exactly what it did to him but was not surprised when Joker forced himself to pretend like it hadn't affected him…despite the way the muscles in his shoulders quivered quickly as though he was trying extremely hard not to shiver.

Her tactic worked, however, as a second later, Joker finally pressed his lips to hers, parting them only slightly to kiss her gently. Jayde responded with equal tenderness although she was finding it incredibly difficult not to kiss him hungrily, force him to let her have a taste but she knew this would send him a heap of mixed signals, especially if he tried to take things further than she wanted them to go and had to stop him. Joker had always told her that he absolutely despised being teased and although she _did _enjoy teasing him occasionally, when she could get away with it, _this _was not one of those times…they were already running late as it was.

However, as soon as Jayde brought her hands up to innocently twist into the back of his damp, honey blonde hair, Joker pulled away, licking his lips and opening his eyes to bounce his eyebrows twice, quickly before he sat up.

"Now get up and get dressed. I'll be back in twelve."

At first, Jayde had wondered why on earth he had figured it would take him exactly _twelve _minutes to walk to the car and back, but after she had watched him finish getting dressed in seemingly two minutes, she figured that left him roughly ten to walk the one or two blocks to and from the parking garage. And since it would not do her any good to piss him off by dallying through her packing and dressing, she hurriedly jumped up once he had left the room and began throwing clothes into the big black bag, not bothering to fold anything or even try to separate dirty clothes from clean. If the house in Chicago was as bad as she was expecting it to be, she would have plenty cleaning to do and Joker would have plenty laundry for her to help him with…and by 'help him with', of course, she meant 'do for him'.

Surprisingly, since waking almost a half hour prior, Jayde had not heard one noise from the rest of the apartment. Dotcom had told her the day before that he would not be working that morning, but still Jayde hoped and prayed he had not been called in; there was no telling when she would see him again after they left. But once her bag had been packed, she had sat on it to help squish everything in to zip it shut, and once she had dressed in a pair of tight, black leggings and a loose, white, long-sleeved top, she dragged the heavy bag out into the hallway, where she found Dotcom sitting at the dining table, quietly eating his way through a bowl of steaming oatmeal. He looked up and smiled somewhat halfheartedly at the sound of the guest room door closing behind her.

"Hey," he greeted her, his voice carrying a note of severely strained pleasantness. "You all packed?" he then asked despite the huge, packed black bag on the floor, clearly in an effort to keep the conversation away from the fact that she was leaving. Jayde ignored his attempt and instead walked over to plop down into the chair across from him. Her forearms met the table with a thud and she cocked her head to the side.

"Do you think I'm making the wrong decision?" she asked candidly, in relation to once again following the Joker back to Chicago. Across from her, Dotcom let out a sigh through his nose as he set his spoon down, before moving his glasses from the top of his head to the bridge of his nose. Jayde held her breath.

"No," he finally answered a few moments later, after studying the slight look of anxiety on Jayde's face. She was obviously looking for some sort of reassurance and could not have been relieved that Dotcom was able to pick up on that. He picked up his spoon again to take another small bite of golden raisin and pecan laced oatmeal. "You love him. And…somewhere deep down…I mean, _very _deep down, he knows he loves you too…" Here, Dotcom paused, but only to roll his eyes, clearly giving up on what Jayde was positive would have been a very confused explanation of the innermost workings of the Joker's mind. "He needs you. You need him. There's nothing wrong with that." He went on, but then paused again, to set down his spoon and lean forward on the table. "But I swear to god, girl, if he hits you again, I'll kill him."

At this, both Jayde and Dotcom burst out laughing, not only in an effort to keep from tearing up at the thought of her leaving again, but also because both knew killing the Joker was just next to walking on water on the scale of impossibility. However, before Jayde could go on and explain that she did not think he would ever do that again, the front door burst open and in strode the man on topic, now dressed in a clean pair of jeans and deep green long-sleeved shirt, his black coat bearing traces of dusty, new snowfall. He paused just inside the door, to glance somewhat suspiciously from one set of eyes to the other, from Dotcom's blank stare to Jayde's smile as though he had a feeling they had been talking about him. However instead of accusing them, he continued inside, shutting the door behind him but only to walk over and stand behind Jayde, leaning over her to stare upside down at her eyes. His eyebrows rose a moment later.

"Are we packed?" he asked, a hint of clowniness playing with his deep voice. Jayde watched his brown eyes, that smile remaining firmly in place as she nodded.

"Yes, we are," she answered, her grin expanding when she noticed the corners of Joker's eyes start to wrinkle. He stood to his full height a moment later.

"Then let's make like a tree and get outta here," he stated, walking away momentarily to pick up Jayde's heavy bag from the entrance to the hallway before slinging it over his shoulder. "Dotcom, you're a saint." He then told their host, extending his right hand for a quick shake before he abruptly walked to the door, leaving the two best friends alone so they could say goodbye. Jayde wanted to take this gesture as kindness but knew he only left to avoid the itchy, awkwardness of watching them say tearful goodbyes. Jayde's nose started to wrinkle before Dotcom had even risen from the table.

"Thank you so much…" she whimpered, holding out her arms to link them around his neck once he had rounded the table to her. "-for everything. I really don't know what I would have done without you."

Against her shoulder, Dotcom sniffed a few times, pulling back from their hug to push his glasses up into his hair, waving one hand as he wiped his eyes with the other.

"It really was nothing, sweetie. You know you're always welcome here." He assured her, a watery smile tugging upward on his thin lips. After a pause, he continued, rolling his eyes slightly. "Although, next time, try to come visit under different circumstances. I really don't wanna have to kill him."

The two best friends laughed halfheartedly, although Jayde was sure, from the conversation she and Joker had had the previous night, that things were certainly going to be different…at least between the two of them. She could care less how he treated the world, as long as he was good to her.

So after another set of teary hugs and goodbyes, Jayde stepped out into the hallway, glancing down toward the elevator for Joker, but nearly jumped when a noise came from behind her. She spun but then sighed, wiping her cheeks with the sleeves of her shirt when she noticed him just standing from leaned against the wall, readjusting the bag on his shoulder. His eyes glanced her up and down as though expecting to see some sort of tangible evidence that she was hurt from leaving Dotcom's house, but when he noticed the glint on her bright blue eyes, he sighed, bringing up his free arm to drape it loosely around her shoulders, pulling her away from the door.

"You're such a baby…" he practically scolded with a tisk. "You'll see him again…Besides, it's not like you two won't talk on the phone every other day…" Jayde nodded, walking with him down the hallway slowly in the opposite direction from the elevators.

"I know, but I'm going to miss him anyway," she answered with a shrug. "I had a lot of fun staying with him…"

By now, they had reached the end of the hallway, where Joker let go of her shoulder to push open a heavy metal door, leading into a gray stairwell.

"Well, I'm fun too but…I might try to have sex with you. We're different like that, he and I…" he explained with a smirk, following Jayde into the stairwell as she laughed.

Fortunately, even for a Monday, the inner stairwell and staff hallway leading out into the back alley was completely empty, leaving Joker and Jayde with an easy task of making it out onto the street without encountering anyone. However, the sidewalk lining Greenwich avenue was very unlike the previous alley and hallway and was positively bustling with people, natives and tourists alike. It seemed the recent start of the snowfall had encouraged everyone to get out of their apartments and walk to who-knows-where, take their sweet time while doing so. As they got stuck behind a slow-moving, older couple, Jayde heard Joker let out a quiet, annoyed growl beside her and she glanced up at him, grinning sympathetically as he leaned to the side to see what was is in front of them. Apparently, the way seemed clear so Joker reached out, gently pushing Jayde to the right, giving her the silent hint to copy him and speed up a bit to pass the older people, then meet again in the middle once they had made it past. Again, Jayde glanced up at him with a grin as his pace slowed again but remained determined.

"You gonna hold my hand?" she asked suddenly, her smile expanding boldly when Joker glanced down at her in return, one eyebrow cocked in confusion. A second later, Jayde gasped when his right hand quickly reached out and took a firm grasp of her left ass cheek beneath the line of her shorter black coat. Jayde stared up at him, her mouth slightly open but when Joker seemed to notice the shocked and embarrassed expression on her face, he jumped slightly, jerking his hand away.

"Oh, woops. I thought you said 'ass'…" he explained, his lips expanding in a joking smirk as Jayde rolled her eyes. "My bad…C'mere." This time, he reached out, linking his right fingers with her left, to tug her closer so he could slide both of their hands into the warm confines of his pocket. Jayde struggled hard against the foolish, girly smile that was threatening to give away just how ridiculously happy she felt at the moment.

It was fortunate for Jayde that the parking garage was so close as the tight, thin leggings she had chosen to wear did not do much in the way of keeping her legs warm…although she had to admit, they did make her ass look great. But as she and Joker stepped up into the garage, she immediately spotted the huge, black, secretly bulletproof Escalade sitting toward the end of the first row and had to admit privately with herself how excited she was to turn on the seat warmers. However a second later, when she remembered that she and Joker had both driven there in separate cars…Almost as if he knew what she was thinking, Joker glanced down at her, pulling their hands out his pocket so he could unlink their fingers.

"I'm gonna have you drive the Cadillac," he stated, nodding with his head toward the huge SUV. "I'll drive the Corvette since there's…ya know, ice on the road n' whatnot…" he paused, but as if in an effort to keep her from thinking he was being protective or doing something nice, he went on, shrugging one shoulder. "You know what they say about female drivers…"

"Right," Jayde agreed, rolling her eyes.

The keys to the Corvette had been stuffed down into the zipper pocket on the outside of the black duffle so after fishing them out and exchanging them for the electronic keys to the Escalade, Jayde waited for Joker to hoist the heavy bag into the trunk before climbing in. Joker followed her to the driver's seat but paused to watch her apply the seatbelt before speaking.

"I'm going to get the 'Vette. You wait here until you see me pull up then back out and follow me, got it?" he asked, the determination in his voice making it seem as though they were departing soon to rob a bank. It only made sense that seeing how Joker had not pulled off an elaborate, chaos-centered scheme lately that he would make a slightly bigger deal out of something so trivial, but Jayde was leagues away from mentioning this. She was fairly positive that a plan of some sort would be in the making once they returned home and figured that Joker could use some dusting off and warming back up.

Once she had nodded her agreement, Jayde watched for a few moments through the rearview mirror as Joker stalked away, glancing around quickly for the Corvette before he seemed to spot it and took off at a more brisk pace along the line of parked cars. With him now out of sight, Jayde sighed with a content grin, leaning back in the comfortable leather seat, that had begun to warm gradually along her back and under her legs. Of course, the seat had been adjusted to suit Joker's long legs, leaving Jayde barely able to touch the pedals, even with her toes pointed and her own, short legs stretched all the way out. Truthfully, she absolutely loved how tall he was compared to her and had a feeling that Joker felt the same way concerning her short stature. She adored the way she had to tilt her head almost all the way back to look straight up at him and how he had to bend slightly to kiss her if she did not meet him halfway by rising onto her toes.

With the seat freshly adjusted and the radio tuned to a station playing a song she liked, Jayde rolled down the driver side window, wondering whether or not Joker would care if she lit a cigarette already. After debating for a few moments, twirling an unlit cigarette between her fingers, she lit it, figuring he would not care and would probably do the same thing fairly soon after they had left the garage.

Soon enough, the low rumbling of the Corvette's powerful engine met Jayde's ears, magnified slightly by the echo of the large, concrete parking garage and upon glancing in the mirror again, she noticed the front end of the classic, black sports car pull up behind the monstrous Escalade. Through the passenger window of the Corvette, Joker motioned with a wave of his hand for her to get a move on and had soon pulled closer to the entrance and exit of the garage, giving her space to back out and begin following him. But after she had done this and caught up to pull behind him at the exit to the street, Jayde noticed Joker's arm hang out of the window before he motioned for her to pull up alongside him. She obeyed, then rolled down the passenger window when Joker's finger moved in a circular pattern. He nodded at her.

"Let me get a few of those from you," he called to her, his voice slightly raised over the echoing rumble of the Corvette. Luckily, Jayde knew exactly what he meant and tossed the newly opened pack of cigarettes to him through the open window, watching as he caught it and opened it to take four of the smokes out. He tossed them back a moment later before tucking one behind his right ear and the other three into the center console beside him. "Alright, now let's beat it."

The traffic in New York that morning was not all that bad, seeing how it was just after ten o'clock on that Monday morning and it seemed as though a fair amount of the usual crowd was either at work or busy elsewhere. Jayde watched idly from her place behind the Corvette at a stoplight as a whole crowd of people journeyed across the crosswalk and a small grin pulled at her lips when she wondered how badly Joker was currently wishing he could plow through them like a bowling ball through a cluster of pins. She was fairly positive he had some sort of point system in place for the running over of passers-by…

Every now and again, a vague puff of smoke would billow from the partially lowered window on the left side of the car and Jayde watched, smirking as Joker's hand momentarily appeared to flick a bit of ash from the end of his cigarette. The tattooed band around his wrist somehow seemed darker than it had been before she left and she wondered if he had maybe gotten bored and decided to redo it, which led her to then wonder how he had managed to do that when the tattoo was on his left wrist and he was indeed left-handed. Then again, she could remember him explaining in a sarcastic and rather rudely worded way that he was ambidextrous and therefore 'infinitely more awesome than regular people'. But seeing how his primary, dominant hand was his left, Jayde wondered how he managed to stay so rational and logical, being that his right brain controlled most of his function. Privately, Jayde wished she could take him to a hospital or research facility and watch him have an MRI done on his brain, just to see how it worked…or at least find out what his official IQ was…She would not have been surprised if it turned out to be far north of 100.

The rest of the drive through New York passed uneventfully for both Jayde and Joker, although at one point, Jayde did discover his CD of excruciatingly loud, heavy, metal music in the disc player and quickly changed back to the radio, cringing as her ears rang slightly. The tall buildings and bustling sidewalks soon gave way to suburban Jersey neighborhoods bordering either side of the interstate but not quickly enough, they evolved into vast stretches of green and brown fields, dotted here and there with patches of newly fallen snow. The highway was relatively empty of other cars and although Jayde was not exactly thrilled with having to drive another six hours, she was thankful that it did not seem likely that they would spend any of that time stuck in traffic.

_Welcome to Pennsylvania!_

Jayde let out a sigh of mingled relief and frustration as the Escalade followed the Corvette past this sign. They were still at least four or five hours from reaching the sign reading '_Welcome to Illinois!' _and time could not have been moving more slowly. Every time she glanced at the time on the screen of the in-dash computer system, it seemed the minutes had only increased by a few numbers, no matter how long she felt it had been since she last looked and Jayde wondered what Joker was doing in the car in front of her to pass the time.

But a moment later, after she had glanced at the clock to find it only nearing a half past noon, Jayde jumped when her phone began ringing loudly in the cup holder beside her. A tiny grin reached her face when she imagined Dotcom calling to find out how far they were and ask if she was positive she didn't want to come back but as she picked up the singing device to glance at the caller ID, her eyebrows arched in confusion. Why was Joker calling her?

"Um…hello?"

"…Wanna get high?"

Joker's raspy voice punctuated the silence after she had answered but Jayde wasted no time in letting out a short laugh into the phone.

"You have weed?" she asked incredulously, finding it hard to believe he had not thought to smoke the previous night. There was another pause where she could just practically hear him rolling his eyes.

"_No, _I was gonna huff some paint…" he growled sarcastically into the phone. It was then Jayde's turn to roll her eyes. "Yeah, I found a blunt in the glove compartment. I forgot I put it in there…"

At this, Jayde grunted a laugh, resting the phone between her shoulder and ear, maneuvering the Escalade to the right as the Corvette in front of her began to pull off into a rest area.

"Wow, I wish I had looked in there when I was driving up last week," she admitted with a laugh, pulling the heavy SUV into a parking space to the left of the Corvette before she looked over through the passenger window. Joker did the same to his right, somehow finding her eyes through the heavily tinted glass and he moved the phone from against the side of his face to directly in front of his mouth.

"I'm gonna go pee first," he said loudly into the microphone, grinning when he noticed Jayde jump and pull the phone away from her ear with a scowl. "Be right back." He then added, just before he hung up and got out, leaving his black coat behind in the seat.

After setting her phone down, Jayde watched as Joker stalked away toward the more than likely disgusting bathrooms, glancing down at a young man on a bench, his head bowed and looking down at what she could only assume was a map. The young man looked up as Joker walked past and for a moment, it almost appeared as though he was about to ask him something but seemed to think better of it and returned to staring at his map. Jayde couldn't blame him; chances were, Joker had a less than approachable expression on his face.

Within moments, Joker reemerged from the bathroom, his hands tucked into his pockets and his shoulders hunched, clearly regretting his decision to leave his coat behind as a cold breeze blew past him and rustled his hair. However, as he approached the bench from behind this time, Joker's eyes focused on the back of the young man's head and for a moment or two, Jayde held her breath as she quickly imagined him pulling a knife from his pocket. But as he grew closer, Jayde noticed the same thing Joker seemed to be noting…the man did not appear to hear anyone approaching him from behind and instead remained completely focused on his map. Clearly, this struck Joker as a little odd as his eyebrows furrowed slightly but fortunately, he did not stop to investigate and instead continued on his way toward the Escalade. As he passed however, the man stood up and said something Jayde could not hear, although Joker did and paused, turning to face the man. Jayde's stomach clenched up nervously and she glanced around quickly for any sign of a police car in the parking lot.

The man brought his map with him as he moved somewhat cautiously toward Joker and was now holding it out, saying something, clearly asking for directions. At first, Jayde half-expected Joker to tell the man to fuck off or even waste a few seconds giving a few completely backwards directions to take the poor man the wrong way, but as he asked the man something and tapped his own ear, only to receive a nod in return, Jayde's mouth fell open when Joker removed his hands from his pockets and began to use them…to give the man directions. His fingers moved deftly to create different signs before he would turn slightly and point at the road, but then turn back to the man and 'say' another few things. After a few moments, he paused and the stranger began to sign back, clearly asking another question, before he too hesitated and Joker responded with more intricate signs.

Why the _hell _Joker had thought to teach himself sign language, Jayde would never have been able to guess for herself, not in a million years. But instead of trying to imagine under what circumstances he had felt the need to learn that skill, she found herself on the edge of her seat as she eagerly watched them converse with their hands, until finally, the man seemed to understand the directions. The stranger was smiling, obviously baffled by his good fortune of running into _one _person in the middle of nowhere who spoke fluent sign language, and extended his hand to Joker for a grateful shake. Joker obliged and quickly shook his hand but then turned and continued walking toward the Escalade, as though nothing even the slightest bit extraordinary had happened. A moment later, he was pulling open the right, back door of the Escalade and he climbed in, motioning for Jayde to join him, although she was finding herself a bit too blown away to even move at the moment. She turned in the seat, her eyebrows raised as she looked back at him.

"Were you just using _sign language_ to talk to that guy?" she asked incredulously, her voice raised slightly in sheer surprise but Joker shook his head dismissively, his eyebrows furrowed and focused down on the blunt he was now lighting.

"No, I was just being extra descriptive," he answered sarcastically, not even bothering to look up at her. However when she did not immediately answer, he glanced up, only to roll his eyes at the flat, rather annoyed expression on her face. "Come back here, I don't want Beethoven ova' there to watch us smoke." He went on to growl, motioning through the window next to him as the deaf man climbed into his car and prepared to leave. Jayde sighed, rolling her eyes as she got out of the car to then get back in and sit in the seat beside him, although the second she had closed the door, Joker moved again to the very memorable back seats. Jayde followed and took the lit blunt from him but was not about to drop the deaf issue.

"How did you learn sign language?" she asked openly, taking a small hit from the cigar as Joker leaned back against the seat, exhaling a thin stream of potent smoke. At first, it seemed as though he was about to ignore her question as he did not respond immediately, but after he had completely emptied his lungs and let out a short cough, he took another deep breath, glancing over quickly at her eager eyes.

"I uh-…you remember me tellin' you about my friend Shadow? At the orphanage?" he asked in return, glancing down to take the blunt back from her and Jayde nodded eagerly, somewhat stunned that he had seemingly agreed to answer her question. "Well, he was called 'Shadow' because he was deaf and never spoke. 'Quiet as a shadow', get it? He didn't come to live there until he was seven and since Ms. Leland didn't know sign language, he taught it to me so we could talk and no one would know what we were saying," he explained, but then paused to shrug as he took a long drag from the blunt. "Guess it just kinda stuck."

Jayde laughed quietly, shaking her head as she watched him exhale.

"That is…" she started, but then paused to take the blunt from him as he passed it. "…kinda hot, actually." She went on to admit somewhat sheepishly, glancing up when she felt Joker turn his head and grinned when she noticed a small smirk tugging upward on his left scar as he watched her exhale a bit of smoke slowly. He reached out for the blunt a second later as she handed it to him.

"You wanna shotgun?" he asked in an effort to change the subject and his eyebrows raised as he waited for Jayde's answer, although she honestly had no idea what he was asking her.

"A what?"

Joker laughed, motioning for her to slide closer to him along the tan leather bench seat until he could place his arm behind her.

"When I breathe out, you breathe in." he instructed simply, watching her eyes until she nodded an understanding, before he took a long, deep hit from the blunt but did not inhale at first and merely held it in his mouth. Leaning toward her, he let his hand come to rest on her far shoulder, pulling her closer to him until their lips were only separated by a few inches. He then began to exhale slowly, creating a thin stream of smoke that passed directly into Jayde's mouth as she took a slow, steady breath in. The smoke seeped down into her lungs and clouded her brain, leaving her feeling fuzzy, warm and tingly all over, high almost instantly as Joker shared his hit with her. However, before she could exhale properly and begin coughing, Jayde gasped quietly against his lips as they met hers gently, his hand moving to lightly touch the side of her neck, carpeting her in goosebumps.

The smoke in her lungs escaped through her nose and from between her lips, passing from her own mouth back into Joker's and she felt him take a slow, deep breath in, clearly hoping to extract the very last of the shotgun hit before it dissipated. At this point, Jayde expected him to pull away, take another real hit from the blunt, but to her immense surprise, Joker stayed in place, ignoring the burning cigar he had placed cherry side up in the cup holder next to him. The hand that had been previously placed on her far shoulder moved slowly down her back to her hip but so distracted by the residual, sweet taste of the blunt paper on his lips and the way his tongue had just barely graced her top lip, Jayde failed to notice his grip growing tighter.

Joker's breath escaped him in a low, staggered exhale as he pulled away, moving his left hand from the side of her neck to the back of her knee where he gripped her tight. His eyes opened only slightly to meet her widened ones, a devilish smirk playing with his lips as he admired the rather astonished expression he found there. A moment later, and Jayde did not know how she hadn't seen it coming, Joker lifted her almost completely off of the seat to place her on top of his lap, straddling him, almost in the exact same fashion as he had that fateful night back in Gotham. Her breath hitched in her throat as Joker's fingers tightened into a machine-like grip against her hips, digging his thumbs into the soft space of flesh above her hipbones and he pulled her waist closer to him, tilting his head up to lick his lips, his eyes meeting hers.

"_That's _more like it…" he growled, leaning forward slightly to nudge her chin gently with his nose, demonstrating that he would like for her to tilt her head to the side. Despite herself and the decision she had made earlier, Jayde obliged reluctantly, slowly rocking her head back, giving Joker the space he had so politely and silently asked for. His lips made contact with that sensitive curve of her neck, followed closely by his tongue, licking and sucking gently at the skin there. As much effort as Jayde had been putting into remaining silent, not giving him any encouragement, the soft whimper that slipped past her lips had been completely unavoidable, natural in every way and she sighed in slight apprehension when Joker's hips gave an instinctive rock from beneath her. A second later, Jayde jumped slightly with a short squeak of surprise when Joker's front teeth suddenly nipped hard at a tiny fold of her skin between them, leaving a bright red mark in their wake.

If she was going to stop him, now had to be the time. His breathing had grown somewhat labored with oncoming arousal, his grip tightening with every breath he took. Yes, he had promised that his newly found respect for her would last and that his days of purposely treating her poorly had come to an end, however Jayde still could not help but feel like stopping him after allowing his lust to progress could result in a very unfavorable outcome. She could just imagine him pushing her off of him roughly before abruptly climbing out of the SUV, getting into the Corvette to speed off and leave her to drive the remainder of the way back alone. She could just picture herself tearing up and sniffling quietly for the next few hours, or even taking the Escalade to the appropriate exit to turn back to New York.

But as Joker's hands slid slowly from her hips down onto her thighs on either side of him, Jayde opened her eyes, looking down at him somewhat breathlessly as he pulled away from her neck. His tongue slipped out to trace the scar on his bottom lip, his top teeth following to roll the scar beneath them as his eyes tracked the path his hands were taking. With a quiet groan, he pinched his fingers together over her leg, pulling a bit of the tight legging material away from her skin, only to let it snap back into place a moment later.

"I _like _these uh-…_pants _ya got on…" he growled, sliding his hands back up along her legs to her waist, his fingers rested lightly along the curve of her ass. "Make your ass look _just_…" here he paused, but only to give Jayde time to gasp when his hands suddenly tightened their grip on both of her ass cheeks, grasping hard enough to leave bruises as he pulled her flush against his lap. "_-delightful…"_ he then finished, smirking as he ground his hips against her deeply.

"Joker…" Jayde whimpered, cringing in an effort to keep from moaning when his lips met her neck again.

"That's my name…" he growled in reply, and was apparently about to go on and warn her not to wear it out, but instead was distracted mid-sentence when his pointer and middle finger gently slid down the bottom curve of her ass to where her thighs met her body, where he could feel her heat penetrating through the thin leggings. However, this had been exactly what Jayde needed to put her foot down.

Placing her hands gently on his chest, she pushed herself away from him, softening that previous cringe into a rather remorseful look as she reached behind herself to take his hands from her ass and link her fingers with his over his lap. Red hot embarrassment threatened to overtake her but Jayde fought it away, forcing herself to bring her eyes up to meet his from where they had settled sheepishly on his stomach. He was silent and still; Jayde could not yet tell if this was a good _or _bad sign.

"Joker, can we-…not do this…here?" she asked hesitantly. "It just…I just kinda want to wait until we're home and…" _And I can have the chance to see if you'll hold me after…_ "-can do it the right way."

At first, Jayde held her breath, her eyes slightly widened in apprehension. Any second Joker was going to throw her off of him and get out. However, a few heavy, suspenseful moments later, he let out a breathy laugh, shaking his head. Jayde deflated in relief.

"Couldn've told me that sooner?" he asked lightly, tilting his head to the side to squint one eye up at her and Jayde sighed, pressing the palms of her hands to her face somewhat guiltily.

"I know, I'm sorry," she groaned in a muffled voice from behind her hands. "I was just scared you were going to get mad at me and then leave me here-"

At this, Joker let out another, louder laugh as he reached up to tug her wrists away from her chin.

"I'm a big boy…I can take no for an answer," he explained, grinning up at her, his gaze bouncing back and forth between her eyes. "All-_though_…when we get home, don't expect me to give up so easy."

Jayde laughed with a nod, leaning forward to press one last, grateful kiss on his lips before she swung her left leg across his lap and moved to push herself up off the bench seat to hunch forward and climb through the car to the door. The heat of the previous situation had almost distracted Jayde from the fact that she was still fairly high from the blunt they had only half-finished, and she was just wondering if Joker would 'accidentally' leave it behind in the SUV when he suddenly reached out from behind her, wrapping his arm around her legs to stop her.

"But I meant what I said about these pants, girl," he growled again, smacking his hand against her ass with a loud clap.

After climbing back into their separate cars and after Jayde watched Joker hold up the remainder of the blunt through the window, grinning widely as he relit it tauntingly, Jayde pulled the Escalade from the parking space to follow the Corvette to the exit of the parking lot. Hopefully, if the weed had done its job, the next few hours would simply fly by and before she knew it, they would be back at the house on the corner of Lincoln and Platt, eating dinner and sitting on the couch in front of the tv like they had never fought in the first place.

For the first hour after leaving the rest stop, time did seem to scoot by at a more acceptable pace, which left Jayde feeling encouraged and slightly less annoyed by being stuck in the car alone for so long. It was more than likely that Joker was positively _stoned _in the car ahead of her and Jayde envied his decision to take the blunt with him, wishing she had thought to ask him to relight it while he was still in the Escalade with her…Hindsight was always twenty-twenty. So seeing how she had absolutely no one to talk to, she was no longer high and Joker obviously _was, _Jayde reached down for her phone out of the cup holder, before pressing the green dial button twice. She held it to her ear, a grin already plastered to her face while she imagined the expression Joker would give when he glanced at his phone.

"Leiter County Morgue, Joker speaking," came a raspy, clowny voice from the other end after several rings and Jayde laughed, watching the small back window of the Corvette out in front of her.

"I'm bored," she answered. "Tell me a story."

From the loud groan on the other end of the phone, Jayde could just picture him rolling his eyes heavily and she laughed again, switching hands on the steering wheel as Joker sighed in annoyance.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess…" he began in a very forced, gravely tone but Jayde stopped him there with a giggle, shaking her head as though he could see her.

"_No, _I mean tell me a story about _you_," she clarified. "Tell me about something you and Tre did."

These words had flown out of Jayde's mouth before she could even consider stopping herself and from the heavy silence that lingered in the empty space of the phone connection, she felt her heart stop beating all together; perhaps she had just pushed the Joker right out of his good mood and into another bad one. Vaguely, Jayde heard him take a deep breath in through his nose where she could picture him shifting in the driver's seat somewhat uncomfortably, maybe switching his hands on the steering wheel or scratching at a spot on his scalp, but as he exhaled heavily, she smiled. He was passing her tests so far.

"Well, once upon a time, Tre and I decided that we really needed to clean our bathrooms," he started somewhat slowly. "We were only about seventeen at the time, I think…Anyways…" Jayde's grin expanded; she loved the way he told stories. "While Tre was in _his _bathroom mopping, _I _decided to be a fucking genius, _as usual, _and use some bleach in my tub." Again, he paused, either for effect or to remember a detail, Jayde was not sure. Either way, she felt it was a nice touch. "But _then, _I had the idea that using ammonia _with _the bleach would probably expedite the whole…cleaning process…And as you know, my bathroom has no window…" At this, Jayde laughed, figuring where his story was going.

"Oh no…" she groaned, but did not continue, hoping he would go on and finish the story himself. On the other end of the phone, Joker gave another sigh.

"Oh yes…" he reluctantly went on to finish his story. "Apparently bleach and ammonia makes a _lovely _little substance known as chlorine gas. So… five minutes later, Tre found me passed out on the floor in the bathroom…and never let me live it down."

Now that he seemed finished with the story, Jayde felt it was perfectly acceptable to burst out laughing and did so in earnest, rocking forward slightly as she held the phone to her ear. The other end was silent as Joker allowed her to laugh at him, thankful that she could not see the foolish grin that had mounted itself to his face while listening to her disgustingly adorable laugh.

Several stories later, after Joker had recounted a few of the many tales from he and Tre's adolescence and after Jayde had nearly laughed herself to tears a few times, Joker glanced to the right of the road as a large green sign bearing the words '_You are now leaving Indiana' _passed in a blur. Before he could mention it, Jayde's excited, loud voice broke the silence on the phone.

"Woah! Are we back already?" she asked, glancing in the rear view mirror as though the rapidly disappearing sign would be holding the same message on the other side. Joker nodded, thinking she could see him but then answered.

"It appears that way," he replied, rolling his eyes. "Time flies when you're high as fuck, what can ya say," he then added, laughing when he pictured the flat expression on her face.

Within another hour, the Corvette was pulling off of the interstate, onto one of Chicago's main roads, winding its way into the city as the Escalade followed at a slower pace. Despite the shower he had taken earlier, Joker felt beyond ready for another one and had been wondering for the better half of an hour if he could convince Jayde to join him in the bathroom. She had been a cunning little minx to stop him earlier which made him wonder what her true motive behind doing that had been. It seemed so very like her to try and punish him covertly for the way he had been acting since they had left Gotham and as much as he hated that idea, he could not exactly say he disagreed with her plan. If he was being _completely _and _one hundred percent _honest with himself and with the ghost of Tre that he had gotten used to asking for guidance, he could admit _very _hesitantly that Jayde was indeed his first…'girlfriend'. Tre had been an indispensable source of advice on his issues with Jayde, seeing how his black best friend had gone through more girlfriends than Joker could even remember, much less count on two hands. But now that he was gone, joker was left to his own devices, stumbling stupidly about their relationship like a blind man in a room with no windows or doors. And it seemed really unlikely that Jayde would offer to give him relationship advice, and even _less_ likely that Dotcom had any usable knowledge on the topic, which left him to figure it out by himself, play a huge game of 'hot or cold' until he reached the outcome he most desired.

So seeing how Jayde had already expressed a desire to take things slowly, albeit in a rather coy and slightly underhanded sort of way, Joker decided he understood what she wanted, no matter how frustrating and inane it seemed. If she wanted to move slowly, they would move slowly and he would wait for some sort of cue that she was ready for him. He just hoped she would not hold out on him for more than a few days…he was already feeling a little blue below the belt. Perhaps her wishes would change once they got home and he revealed that giant surprise he had been suppressing with great difficulty…

_Finally, _after nearly six and a half hours, the Corvette bounced into the driveway of the house at the corner of Lincoln and Platt, followed closely by the Escalade, its frame squeaking slightly under the weight of the bulletproof metal as it climbed onto the smooth concrete. Jayde's eyes scanned the side of the house, mildly surprised to find that it was still in once piece and had not been blown to high hell or burnt to the ground at any point over the past week. The yard was more brown than ever, any trace of green sapped from the earth by the increasingly bitter winter wind and gradual snowfall.

To the left of the Escalade, Joker was now climbing out of the Corvette to round the front end toward her as she slid down from the tall driver's seat, smoothing out the wrinkles in her top.

"Let's go in, shall we?" he asked somewhat brightly, clearly ecstatic to be home again with the one person in the entire world he actually wanted there with him. Jayde could not blame him. The house was nowhere near extravagant or lavish, was rather ugly both inside and out, but for some odd reason that was completely beyond her, Jayde considered this home now. There were so many memories, both good and bad that made this house comforting and even though only a few of them involved her, she felt that anywhere Joker was comfortable and at ease, she would be too.

After hoisting her bag from the back of the SUV, Joker and Jayde walked around the side of the house, past the dead yard to the front door, where Joker paused to fish his keys from his pocket and set down the heavy bag.

"Alright…" he began, picking the correct key from the ring before sliding it into the deadbolt. "If everything went according to plan…this place won't look anything like it used to…I hired a few slaves to clean up while I was gone." Beside him, Joker could practically hear the expression on Jayde's face change to show skepticism and he laughed as she folded her arms. "What? I'm serious!"

"Right," Jayde agreed hastily, shivering slightly as she hugged her arms to her chest. "Just open the door so I can start cleaning, I bet this place is a du-"

Mid-word, Jayde stopped, her jaw falling open so quickly it hurt as Joker pushed open the door to reveal a completely different house inside. Where ugly, orange, shaggy carpet had lay before, now sat a sheen, glimmering floor of dark hardwood and the old, unsightly couch had been switched with a white, impossibly comfortable-looking replacement. The walls, previously coated in chipped and stained white paint had been redone in a beige, tan color with one single wall done in a deep, rich purple.

Her mouth still ajar, Jayde stepped past Joker and into the house in a daze, her eyes wide with astonishment that he had somehow managed to pull this off without even giving the slightest hint that he had been planning it. Behind her, he had already pulled the bag into the house and was now watching with a proud smirk as Jayde walked into the newly furnished living room, momentarily eyeing the spanking new flat screen tv mounted to the only purple wall. She turned to him a moment later, tossing her arms.

"Are you _kidding _me?" she suddenly squealed, practically launching herself across the room toward him until she could jump up into his arms and start plastering his face with kisses. Joker groaned, cringing as she kissed every inch of exposed flesh from the neck up.

"No, I'm not," he answered, setting her down to grab her hand and pull her toward the completely remodeled kitchen. "When I got to Dotcom's and saw how swanky his place was, I-…well, I guess you could say I got a little jealous and…since Tre had been wanting to redo this place for years, I figured I might as well do it. So I had Dotcom call some of his queer-…"

As he explained, Jayde found herself barely able to divide her attention between listening to him and openly ogling the shiny new, stainless steel kitchen appliances and new wooden cabinetry. The horrible linoleum floor and ceiling tiles had all been replaced and the kitchen now resembled something from a Better Homes and Garden magazine. She turned to Joker, shrugging her shoulders in disbelief.

"How did they-…I mean how did they do it in so little time? I don't-…" she asked several questions, hoping he would somehow make sense out of one of them and fortunately he stopped her, smirking as he took a step toward her to wrap his arm around her shoulders, leading her from the kitchen, through the fancy new living room and over to his bedroom door.

"Intimidation is a valuable skill to perfect, my dear," he explained haughtily, turning the knob to push open the door and reveal his newly carpeted, painted and refurbished bedroom. "Apparently Dotcom's queers have a lot of queer friends that _love _redoing houses…_Aaaaand…_I kinda sorta told them I would kill them all if it wasn't done by seven today…Guess they believed me!" he finished with a laugh. Again, Jayde turned to him after studying the flawless off-white carpet and plush bed with Joker's old purple sheets already applied. She shook her head, attempting unsuccessfully to stave off the oncoming tears of happiness and pride that her man had taken such a large step in the right direction. Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her arms around his middle, burying her face against his soft, warm green shirt.

"Joker, I'm so proud of you for doing this," she whimpered, glancing up just in time to catch him rolling his eyes and she swatted him on the chest. "I'm serious! You surprised me with this, baby…" Here, she paused, taking a half step back as her hands came up to her mouth, almost in an effort to hold her next words in but they escaped none the less in a voice only slightly more audible than a whisper. "I love you."

Again, Joker rolled his eyes with a handsome smirk, bringing his arm up to wrap it loosely around her shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, I know." He grumbled, leading Jayde back out into the living room. "Now hows 'bout you go test out that new kitchen and make something for dinner." He suggested, leaning heavily on her as she paused to look up at him with the biggest smile he had ever seen on her face. "I'm starved."

So after leaving one last excited kiss on his cheek, Jayde bounced off to the kitchen like a little girl, leaving Joker to watch her go, honestly feeling more proud and content than he had in a long time.

_Hope you like it too, brother._

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A/N: I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter as it was pretty fun to write. Lots of surprises, huh? From here on out, all new chapters will be posted on Fridays so it's like a new episode of your favorite show every week! So stay tuned for a new 'episode' next Friday and LEAVE ME A REVIEW! -QoM


	18. Even the Score

If there was some word in the English language to describe how happy and content Jayde felt upon rolling over the next morning to find the Joker laying just behind her on his back, she was not sure what it was or even what letter it began with. She supposed…'elated' could suffice…or maybe 'ecstatic' even? Either way, an immense, warming sensation of comfort spread over her like a blanket fresh from the dryer as she turned onto her side against him, readjusting her head to rest on the soft, comfortable section of his shoulder as her arm and hand draped across his broad chest to grip his far side. A quiet hum of sleepiness left her as Joker's stomach rose and fell deeply in a heavy sigh, signaling that she had only just woken him. His left arm had been stretched straight out beside him as they had fallen asleep the previous night and had clearly stayed that way for the remainder of the eight, almost nine hours they had slept, despite the fact that he had turned onto his back at some point and Jayde, onto her side with her back to him.

Now, as Jayde readjusted to get comfortable, bringing up her leg to rest across his longer, lankier ones, she watched as Joker's eyes slid open slowly, blinking several times as they adjusted to the gray light now filtering in through the new, sheen white curtains drawn across the window. His chest rose again as he took another deep breath in, only to exhale a moment later in a heavy yawn. Jayde watched, that _elated _grin stuck firmly in place as she tilted her head back slightly to watch the side of his face and examine the way his scar moved as he closed his mouth again.

Even with his eyes closed, it seemed Joker could sense that he was being watched and Jayde's grin expanded slightly as his left eye slid open slowly, peering down at her to blink several times until her blurry features came into focus. Once satisfied that it was Jayde laying there and not a total stranger, his eye shut again, leaving him to readjust his head against the pillow and his shoulders on the bed with a quick shift of his upper body. Jayde tightened her grip across his chest, nudging his defined and stubbly jaw line with the bridge of her nose.

"Good morning, Mister Joker," she cooed softly, her voice laced with residual sleepiness. "Did you sleep good?"

Beside her, Joker cleared his throat, bringing up his unoccupied right hand to itch at a spot on his cheek, his short fingernails creating a rasping, scratchy noise against the now fully shadowed stubble beneath his scar.

"Dunno…" he answered honestly, which left Jayde's heart to sink a few inches as she watched the side of his face and the somewhat sour expression that had appeared there. "Do I still have teeth?"

With a laugh, Jayde turned more onto her stomach against him, resting her chin on the back of her hand in the middle of his chest as she peered up at his mouth when he opened it and tilted his head back as if he had fully expected a few of them to have fallen out in the night. Besides the one she had knocked out back in Gotham several months ago, everything seemed in place.

"Yes, they're all there," she answered with another giggle as Joker let out a sigh of relief. "Why?"

Joker brought his pointer finger up to poke at his white front teeth testily, gripping one of them between his thumb and middle finger as if to gauge how much it would move before he answered with another heavy sigh.

"I had a dream that all my teeth fell out," he explained a few moments later, now running his tongue along the inside of his bottom row of teeth. "I'm guessing you wouldn't find me so attractive without any teeth…" Pushing herself up into a sitting position next to him, Jayde rested her hand on his bare chest, patting him there lightly.

"Exactly right," she answered with a nod. "I don't mind the scars or even the green hair, but you lose any teeth and I'm outta here." That grin from earlier returned to expand into foolish proportions as Joker let out a deep laugh, finally sliding his eyes open to peer up at her. Their gazes met and locked in a gentle stare, where Jayde admired the way the brown color always appeared deepest and darkest first thing in the morning and Joker wondered how he got so fucking lucky. His stomach rose and fell again as he took a deep breath, bringing his hand up to rest over hers atop the small patch of light hair in the middle of his broad chest. He wanted her to know how glad he was that she had chosen to come back with him, how he had spent most of the past week in that very room, in that very spot no less, staring at the ceiling, wishing he could feel her warm weight next to him. He wished she could read his mind and see how much he wanted her to know these things and how he could not bring himself to admit them aloud, how much it embarrassed him and made him uncomfortable to bear his soul to the one person that mattered to him.

However, as his eyes raked across her proportionate, beautiful features, studying her, Jayde seemed to sense how badly he wanted her to kiss him, how he wanted to ask her to do so but could not find the right way to word the question, so instead of waiting and forcing it out of him, she leaned down, resting her arm on the pillow next to his head as her lips met his softly. Slowly, Joker let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding as her weight gently settled onto him and the arm that had been stretched out on the bed beside him moved to wrap around her shoulders, holding her that much closer to him. Truthfully, Joker hated himself for being so affectionate with her, but he really could not help it; something about Jayde pulled the romantic out of him like a magician pulling a rabbit from a very shallow bowler hat. Her lips were so soft and plush against his thinner ones but as difficult as it was, Joker had to force his brain not to venture places he knew it shouldn't since the odds of Jayde shooting him down again were still very high. As if she knew what he had been thinking, _again, _she pulled away only by a few inches, smirking as his eyes opened slowly to stare up at her.

"I'm going to make some breakfast..." she told him quietly, her gaze dropping to his bottom lip as he quickly traced the deep scar there with his tongue. "Are you getting up?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to smartly reply that he _was_, in fact, 'getting up', but seeing how Jayde was currently in one of her sweet, innocently playful moods, he felt it might be best to refrain for the time being. He nodded instead, allowing her soft upper arm to slide beneath his rough hand as she sat up to crawl to the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, in a few," he answered, rolling onto his stomach slowly to stretch his arms and legs as far as they could reach across the now empty mattress. "Just wanna make sure the bed knows I'll be back tonight so it doesn't get lonely." He then explained, pressing the side of his face into the sheets as his hands affectionately rubbed the spaces next to him. Jayde laughed, shaking her head as she pulled one of her sweatshirts from the pile of clothes on the new carpet near the door.

"_Right…"_

Although it seemed perfectly in his nature to say something strange and extremely random like that, Jayde could not pretend she did not know the real reason behind him turning onto his stomach like that and procrastinate getting out of bed and she could not help but grin somewhat proudly to herself as she walked through the beautiful new living room toward the kitchen. It was rather surprising to her what just one simple kiss did to him and honestly loved how she had developed that power over him. The Joker seemed so uncontrollable and wild like a windstorm or tsunami, and yet all she had to do to have him drooling all over himself was kiss his lips or walk past him wearing less clothes than normal…she _loved _that power. And yet, it surprised her even more so that Joker could exercise that same control over _himself. _It seemed he had picked up on what she had been trying to get through to him the previous day in the car and that last night when he had 'jokingly' suggested she join him for a shower and had stopped himself just then in the bed, even though it had been perfectly clear that her kiss had gotten to him.

Which led Jayde to wonder….Just how far could she push him? Yes, it was true, in the past she had tried this same tactic, only to end up in some less than favorable circumstances, however, _now, _she felt things had changed. _Now, _it seemed Joker had learned how to respect her, how to admire her as _his_ woman and not just some girl he had chosen to live with him and sleep with him. And seeing how Joker had told her on several occasions that he did not make promises unless he knew he could keep them and had promised to never hurt her again the way he had that one fateful night, Jayde felt she could _maybe…_just _maybe_push his buttons a little…maybe give him one final test with one small, tight, pink reward at the end if he passed.

For the time being however, her plan would have to wait. Her stomach had begun making noises that suggested it had been starved for several days on end and Jayde was not willing to make it wait any longer, seeing how she now had a perfect, beautiful kitchen in which to prepare a fantastic breakfast. But as she went to the new, stainless steel refrigerator, much like the one in Dotcom's apartment, to open the door and peer inside, she felt her empty stomach sink a bit when she found the only items inside happened to be a half-finished loaf of bread, several oranges and one stick of butter. It only figured Joker would not have thought to run by the grocery store while she had been gone.

So after placing the remaining pieces of bread in the oven, pulling out two of the oranges and placing the solid butter on the counter to soften, Jayde ventured to the front door, to step outside onto the front patio for a cigarette. The concrete floor was as freezing cold as she had imagined it would be and she quickly sat down in the chair closest to the door to bring up her bare feet and rest her heels on the edge of the seat. The temperature had seemingly dropped another few degrees overnight, causing her breath to leave her lungs in puffy clouds of condensation that only thickened once she had lit her cigarette. It had not yet snowed in their area of Chicago although Jayde had a feeling the winter's first blanket of powder was not that far off. A quiet snort of a laugh passed through her nose when her mind took her back to the evening when she and Tre had been sitting outside on the patio at the mansion in Gotham, 'gossiping' about Kieron. Tre had lovingly recounted the time when he had foolishly decided to launch a hefty snowball at his best friend's back, only to unknowingly start a full on snowball war in which Joker had decided to cunningly place a good sized rock within each 'weapon' in his 'arsenal'. Tre had said he could remember poking at his bruises later that night while Kieron laughed heartily. Another short laugh escaped her when she mentally noted never to start a snowball fight with Joker.

"What's funny?" came a sudden voice from beside her, causing Jayde to jump and look up, just as Joker leaned against the frame of the front door beside her. He had apparently decided it would just be easiest to shrug on his black coat over his bare chest and long, baggy pajama pants and now seemed perfectly warm and comfortable as he slid his hands down into the deep pockets. Jayde shook her head, exhaling a puff of smoke.

"Nothing," she answered, glancing back up at him. From the arched eyebrow and unconvinced expression on his face, it did not seem as though he believed her. Her eyes rolled a moment later. "I was just thinking about how Tre told me about the snowball war you two had when you were younger…about how you put rocks in all your snowballs."

At this, Joker let out one short laugh, nodding as he fondly thought back to that particular memory. "Ah, yes…" he grumbled, shifting his gaze out toward the brown lawn, wistfully visualizing that very morning. "Awfully clever of me, don't you think?" he then asked, glancing down at her with a smirk. However, when Jayde did not immediately answer and instead glared up at him disapprovingly, Joker rolled his eyes, tossing one finger to point at her briefly as he shifted his weight from one socked foot to the other. "That was Tre's exact reaction when I asked him the same question." There was a momentary pause, where Jayde watched the side of Joker's face as he stared out at the lawn, blinking slowly several times before he tsk-ed, shaking his head. "_Damn, _I miss that mother fucker…" he went on to admit a few moments later.

At first, Jayde was not sure what to say. She had dreamed constantly for the time when Joker would finally feel comfortable enough to admit how he was feeling in front of her, but now that he had seemingly reached that point, she found herself unable to find the right words to comfort him. Saying 'me too' seemed wrong, seeing how there was no way in hell she missed Tre _nearly _ as much as Joker did and felt it would seem pointless to pretend she did. So she remained silent but reached out, gently wrapping her fingers around his wrist above his pocket where she lightly stroked his arm with her thumb through the thick material of his coat.

Unbeknownst to Jayde, this was precisely what Joker had been hoping she would do- make some silent but meaningful indication that she understood where he was coming from and that she empathized. Granted, he had somewhat hoped she would not touch him in any way, therefore making him feel slightly uncomfortable but her effort was noted and appreciated none the less. In order to smooth over the awkwardness, Joker cleared his throat, slowly shifting his weight again so he could move beyond her reach.

"So what's for breakfast?" he asked a second later, but jumped when Jayde suddenly gasped, flinging her half-finished cigarette out into the yard as she leapt up from the chair.

"Shit, I forgot about the toast!" she cried over her shoulder as she dashed past him through the open doorway. Joker watched her go, smirking as she trotted into the kitchen and over to the stove. "Oh, I _hope _it's not burnt…" she groaned, pulling open the oven door.

By then, Joker had joined her in the kitchen and was now leaned down beside her, watching the side of her face as she inspected the state of the now toasty, brown bread, sitting on the sparkling clean racks of the oven. She sighed, reaching in to pull one of them out and turn it over to look at the underside.

"Think it's ok?" she asked, finally turning her head to look at him, but nearly jumped when she found his face close to hers and already watching her as though he had been waiting for her to notice him. Joker's eyes slowly moved downward from her face to the crispy piece of bread in her fingers before abruptly taking it from her and placing it between his teeth. He nodded as he stood to his full height, only to walk away, munching on the crunchy toast.

With breakfast out of the way, Jayde figured it might be beneficial to get her shower out of the way before she asked Joker if she could take the Escalade to the grocery store. She could not imagine him saying no, seeing how his mood had improved so dramatically over the past two days and how they had absolutely no food in the house, but still, she could not help but feel like it might play to her advantage if she approached him while she was dripping wet and clutching a very short white towel around her body.

So with Joker sitting quietly at the carved kitchen table, the only article of furniture in the entire house that had not been replaced, Jayde snuck into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her as silently as possible, locking it as she went. Fortunately, she had remembered to unpack the shampoo and conditioner Dotcom had bought for her and after she had wet down her hair she began lathering, grinning to herself when she mentally predicted the way Joker would very slowly take a deep breath in through his nose when she approached him, as though hoping she would not hear him inhaling as much of her scent as he possibly could. His eyes would flicker quickly from her face down past the towel to her legs before he would look back up again, clearly in an effort to keep her from knowing that a thousand and one naughty thoughts had just flooded his brain. Jayde loved what she did to him.

Once she had washed and rinsed her hair, it did not take very long for her to complete the shower ritual and before she could barely count to twenty, she was turning off the water and stepping out of the tub and onto the new, fluffy white bathroom rug. The towel she had brought into the room with her was laying exactly where she had left it on the toilet and after blotting a bit of moisture from the ends of her curly hair, she wrapped it around herself, rolling the top a bit beneath her armpits, just to make it a bit shorter to show off as much of her legs as possible. Tre had informed Jayde many months ago that there were two types of men…only two- Ass-men, or men that were more attracted to a nice ass, or 'titty-men', men that were more attracted to a nice pair of breasts…Jayde understood Joker to be an 'ass-man' and seeing how she had more ass than tits, she felt she ought to use this to her advantage. So after adjusting the towel so the end of the material just _barely _covered her ass, she stepped out into the hallway, leaning forward slightly so her hair could fall over both of her shoulders to frame her oval-shaped face.

Joker was exactly where she had left him, sitting at the round, wooden table, although he had gotten considerably closer to the back page of the newspaper than he had been when she left to shower and from the way he did not acknowledge the sound of the bathroom door opening, Jayde assumed he must have stumbled upon a particularly interesting article. She took this as another point to her advantage; she loved nothing more than catching the Joker off-guard.

It was not until she was within a few feet of him did he look up, and only once he had noticed what she was wearing did he slowly start to lower the newspaper, gradually bringing his hands down to rest on the table as his eyes copied the movement. Just as Jayde had foreseen, his gaze dropped instantly from her face to the bottom of the towel, where he openly admired the way her thighs did not completely touch and the way water beaded and dripped downward along her olive toned skin. Surprisingly, Joker let his eyes continue their journey until he had looked all the way down at her feet and noticed the bright red polish atop carefully pedicured toenails. He leaned forward a moment later, placing his right elbow on the table to rest his chin within the palm of his hand with his fingers over his mouth as if in an effort to keep his words trapped inside. His eyes once again met hers, his eyebrows raising with them expectantly.

"I was wondering if I could go to the store," she stated in a voice that did not suggest there was any query in her request. "There's absolutely no food here."

At first, it seemed as though Joker was simply about to nod his head and forego releasing his mouth from his hand, as if afraid of what he would say, but after a pause, he lifted his head, moving his hand to point one finger at the towel.

"You're not goin' _anywhere _like _that…_" he replied, his voice raspy and low and the expression on his face suggesting that Jayde had actually planned on going to the store dripping wet in a towel. She scoffed, cocking her hip to the side to place her free hand atop it in that characteristic manner.

"Well, _that's _not fair," she answered sarcastically. "I was hoping I could get our groceries at a discount by wearing this…"

"You wanna talk about fair?" Joker asked, his tone light when he turned to face her, linking his fingers together in his lap as he looked up at her. "What's not fair is that you come out here in this itty bitty towel and expect me to focus on something that does _not _involve you bent over this table…" he growled, arching one eyebrow up at her as he turned slowly again to face the table and pick up his newspaper again. "_That's _not fair…" he then added a moment later, flicking his wrists to unwrinkle a corner of the paper. "But yeah, you can go to the store." He added once again.

For a second or two, Jayde stood there, staring down at him, trying to decide whether she had actually pissed him off or if he was merely giving her shit by calling her out on her plan, but as Joker's head slowly turned to look up at her again, she grinned when she noticed a particular glimmer in his eyes that plainly expressed the latter situation. With a giggle, she leaned down to lightly kiss him on the lips but then quickly pulled back to turn and walk away. As she turned her back to him, however, Joker's pointer finger caught the bottom of her towel and lifted it quickly, revealing the bottom of her full, heart-shaped ass, causing her to squeal and slap his hand away as she jumped forward a few steps. Behind her, Jayde heard Joker's fist drop onto the table in defeat and the grin that smacked her face was completely and irrevocably unavoidable.

Joker's eyes traveled across the small print of the newspaper as the sound of the bedroom door closing behind Jayde met his ears but he was no longer absorbing what he was reading. Even just that tiny, fleeting glimpse of Jayde's perfectly-formed backside had once again kicked up the testosterone in his body, making it incredibly hard to focus. He knew why she did it, just as he knew she was bound to make this farfrom easy for him, and Joker wished wildly to himself that there was some way he could even the playing field, some way he could get back at her for purposely going out of her way to tease him. Of course, this was much easier for Jayde than it was for him. She had several important things to her advantage- she could change her voice from something normal to something different entirely, something more soft and almost husky sounding, something that sounded as though she _really _wanted a good fuck. She had those god damn curves and that ass and those lips…She had that certain way she walked when she knew he was watching, the way she swung her hips a bit more without making it look as though she was trying too hard. And most dangerous of all, she had those fucking _eyes…_and the ability to shift her expression from playful to innocent to sexy to something invading as though she could see straight through him. All this, she had on her team while all Joker had was…well…he had a big dick and that obviously wouldn't do him much good if Jayde had sentenced it to solitary confinement…There _had _to be some way he could get back at her, some way he could tie the game up…_Hmmm…_

Before Joker had managed to refocus his attention on the article he had been reading, Jayde was reemerging from the bedroom, wearing another, clean, white pair of those leggings she had been wearing the day before, which led him to assume that Dotcom had thought to buy her a pair in every color and had probably even told her how great they made her ass look…_Thanks __**a lot**__, faggot…_

Above the leggings, she had chosen to put on a loosely fitting, long sleeved, light blue top that only _just _ended near the middle of her ass and Joker had to force his eyes to the newspaper again while clearing his throat when Jayde leaned over the table for the set of car keys. Her hair had already dried into a messy, curly style that smelled like heaven itself as she walked past him toward the garage door, pulling her black coat on as she went. Her arms raised to bring her hands under her curls to pull them out from stuck between the coat and her shirt, which raised the bottom of her top just enough for Joker's eyes to catch a quick, torturous glimpse of the outline of a pale, lilac thong through the white material of her pants. He cringed from behind the newspaper as he shifted on the wooden chair, noisily rustling the flimsy paper.

"Alright, I'll be back soon," she informed him, finally turning to face the table. "Is there anything in particular you want me to get for you?"

"Nope," Joker answered her instantly, honestly just trying to get her through that door. "Don't do anything stupid."

On the other side of the newspaper from him, there was a pause, the sound of the door opening or keys jingling absent from the moment. It seemed Jayde was hesitating for some reason and as much as Joker felt it would be a bad idea, he slowly started to lower the newspaper, until just his eyes were visible. His eyebrows raised a second later.

"_Forgetting _something?" he asked, squinting slightly when he noticed the knowing smirk on Jayde's face by the garage door. Her hip had already cocked to one side but straightened out when she moved toward him, sliding her hand along the table as she approached.

"_Actually, _ I am," she answered, her voice bearing just a hint of that sassiness. Joker shifted again, lowering the newspaper as she zeroed in on him, like a lioness toward her prey and before he could stand up or stop her, she had closed in. But when Joker had half-expected her to press one of those soft, horribly teasing kisses on his lips, she took it a step further to his dismay and instead planted one of those soft, horribly teasing kisses on his _neck…_Goosebumps rose up all along Joker's forearms, the hair on the back of his neck stood up but he forced himself not to shiver and instead stared up at her defiantly as she pulled away. "Bye…" she then purred, swinging her hips a bit as she once again walked away to the garage door, where she stepped out and disappeared beyond it, leaving the squeaky door to shut behind her with a gentle snap. Joker's face met both of his palms with a soft smack, just before a loud groan escaped his chest.

_ IS THIS A TEST?_

As the Escalade backed out of the driveway, Jayde giggled delightedly to herself as she imagined the sort of thoughts running through Joker's head inside the house. Her plan to test Joker was going absolutely swimmingly and to her surprise, he was passing with flying colors. Yes, he had lifted the back of her towel and had not stopped staring at her ass all morning, but he had not made any snide or rude remarks yet, he had not whined nor complained about how 'unfair' she was being, besides when he had called her out on her towel trick earlier, and honestly, Jayde was incredibly proud of him. If she was admitting it fairly to herself, keeping the Joker and his wonderful dick at bay was having just as much of an effect on her as it was on him, but unlike _Joker, _Jayde could easily go another week without sex. _Joker, _on the other hand, would likely be rocking back and forth in a corner by the end of the third day if she kept this up for much longer.

Toward the end of Lincoln Avenue, where Jayde needed to turn, two familiar-looking black guys were ambling along the sidewalk to the left of the street, only for the larger of the two to step toward the street as she approached and hold out his arm, waving her down. Despite herself, Jayde felt her stomach clench up uncomfortably, but she pulled over nonetheless, slowing gradually until she pulled up alongside who she now recognized as Joker's old friend, Tiny.

"Ay, girl, is Ki home?" he asked in a deep slang once Jayde had rolled down the driver's side window. "I got a 'gar I'm tryna burn wit' him and he ain' answerin' the phone."

By now, the other black guy, who Jayde recognized now as 'D-boy', had approached and was eagerly awaiting her answer.

"Oh, yeah, he's home," she answered with a polite smile. "I'm just going to the store. You guys can go on over there. I think the garage door is unlocked."

"A'ight," Tiny answered with a half-nod before he and Darryl took off in the direction of the small house at the corner of Lincoln and Platt.

Joker's head jerked up so quickly, he felt his neck pop when the garage door opened suddenly and in traipsed Tiny and D-boy, grinning toothily down at him as he folded the newspaper.

"Jesus, guys. Ever heard of _knocking?" _he asked roughly with a cringe as he reached up to rub the back of his neck, slowly rising from the table. Tiny made a noise that sounded like 'pshhh' as he tossed one hand at Kieron.

"You _scared, _dog?" he asked rather loudly in return, laughing with Darryl as Joker walked over to drop the finished newspaper in the garbage. "You seem like the last muh' fuckuh to be scared of anything, bruh."

"Of two black guys runnin' up in my house while I'm all peaceful and unawares?...Yeah…you _scared _me…" Joker growled, rolling his eyes.

It seemed only just then did Tiny and Darryl realize that the house now looked absolutely nothing like it used to and both were currently gawking openly at the sparkling new kitchen and living room.

"_DAMN, _Ki!" Darryl exclaimed, taking a few extra steps into the living room as the huge flat screen TV caught his attention. "How you paid for all this?" he then asked, glancing to his left as Joker stalked past him toward the hallway leading to his bedroom. His voice raised once he disappeared so they could still hear him.

"There's no commission cap on being a criminal, boys," he called from inside his bedroom as he stepped into a clean pair of jeans. "…And that flat screen is bolted into the wall, so don't even think 'bout it, ya hear me?" From the noise of general disapproval at his rather racist remark, Joker smirked to himself, reminded vividly of the way Tre used to react when he made those sort of comments.

"Well, ay, ya girl don't mind if we get you high, bruh?" Tiny asked once Joker had reappeared from the beyond the bedroom door, followed shortly by laughter from both he and Darryl as Joker rolled his eyes heavily.

"No, _Christopher…"_ he answered in a growl as they walked toward the garage. "She doesn't _mind…_and even if she did, you really think that would stop me?" he went on to ask, pausing to hold open the door for both Tiny and Darryl to walk past him, raising his eyebrows at both of them as they passed. "I haven't changed, fellas, hate to disappoint yas."

The garage door snapped shut behind him, but almost immediately, both Darryl and Tiny made noises that suggested Joker had uttered something completely and heinously untrue.

"Nigga, you kiddin' me?" Darryl asked rather loudly. "You think you haven't _changed? _Man, if we had told you back in da day that you was gonna meet this fine ass bitch and get all settle down wit her? You'da laughed in my face, dog." He went on to explain, tossing one hand in Joker's direction, before he noticed Tiny attempting to pass him the blunt and he reached over to take it from him, to take a large, deep hit. His next words came out in a strained voice as he tried to speak and hold his breath at the same time. "Yeah, you may be all famous n' shit cuzza what happen' in Gotham n' shit but as far as this chick goes? You change fa sho, my nigga."

"For the betta' though…For the betta, Ki, don't get it wrong, ya heard?" Tiny then cut in, watching as Kieron took a deep rip from the blunt. "That whole 'hit n' quit' shit you used to do was bad news…and less' be honess…Ya girl is 'bout the fines' piece I seen in a_ long _ass time so…ya know…ya lucky…muh' fuckuh."

Joker nodded as he exhaled a second time and passed the blunt to the left. Honestly, he could not agree more.

One hundred dollars and an hour later, the Escalade was currently pulling back into the driveway at the corner of Lincoln and Platt where Jayde sighed when she noticed that the garage door had been pulled down again. Her last experience with that heavy, metal door had nearly left her decapitated so instead of gambling on whether or not she possessed the strength or height to get it open and have it stay open, Jayde pulled her phone from the confines of her purse before dialing the number to Joker's, praying he would answer. After several rings, a deep voice answered.

"House of the Lord…"

"Can you come open the door and help me carry stuff in?"

"….Do I have to?" Joker asked after a long pause.

"Yes." Jayde answered him with a giggle as she left the warmth of the Escalade's interior reluctantly. There was rustling on the other end of the phone before Jayde heard Joker's loud voice in the background.

"Jayde says she wants you guys to help her bring the-" she heard him say before the phone call ended and she rolled her eyes as she pulled open the window and tailgate at the back of the huge SUV.

Within moments, the garage door began to raise, sliding quickly up along its tracks to reveal the tall Joker, flanked closely on either side by the two black guys she had encountered earlier. All three of them looked incredibly high as they approached the SUV and as Jayde stepped back, Joker walked toward her, smirking as he avoided the numerous bags of groceries in the trunk of the Escalade. His hands wrapped around her waist, pushing her backward by a few steps as he grinned down at her, his eyes more squinted and shiny than usual. Jayde ignored him for the time being.

"Guys, you don't have to do that," she told Tiny and Darryl from around Joker's shoulder. "I actually meant for _him _to help me…" she then added, sending a playful glare up at Joker as he continued to smirk down at her.

"Shhhh…" Joker hissed, glancing behind him to where his two friends were now moving to carry several bags each up the driveway toward the garage. "They _wanted _to help you." By now, Tiny and Darryl had succeeded in ignoring him, obviously figuring it would just go faster if they were to plow ahead and carry the bags they had already picked up all the way into the house and with them gone, Jayde looked up at Joker, but sighed with a quick roll of her eyes as he leaned down to lightly press a kiss to her cheek. "Guess what?..." he asked quietly, nudging her chilled cheek with the warm tip of his nose, tightening his arm's grip around her waist. "I missed you." Again, Jayde rolled her eyes.

"I was gone for like an hour…" she murmured, standing completely still but rocking back and forth as Joker swayed slowly where he stood.

"So?" he asked in return, pulling back slightly to glance down at her, only to grin when he noticed the blank, somewhat annoyed expression on her face.

"You're high as shit, Joker…" she stated the obvious, tilting her head to the side when he leaned down again to place another light kiss there, behind her hair.

"_So?" _he asked again, slowly moving his hands from the small of her back to either side of her waist, framing the bottom of her ribcage with his long fingers. But by now, Jayde had caught on and pulled back from him.

"So you still have to bring in the rest of the bags," she then told him with a quick bounce of her eyebrows, only to pat his broad shoulder twice as he groaned loudly and rolled his eyes heavily. "Nice try though!" she then tossed over her shoulder with a wink.

Inside the house, Tiny and Darryl had apparently decided one round of bag-carrying was quite enough for them and after setting the bags on the counter, they had clearly decided it was time for another blunt and were now seated at the round, carved table, a rather healthy-sized pile of bright green, stinky weed and an already split cigar sitting in front of Darryl while Tiny turned his head to glance up at Jayde. It seemed from the way he looked away quickly that he wasn't really sure what to say so she took it upon herself to break the silence.

"Thanks for helping, guys," she said from the counter, where she was now pulling random items from inside the bags. "Joker doesn't like to help with stuff like that…" she then murmured, tossing a quick glare over her shoulder at the garage door when she heard the man on topic step inside carrying the rest of the bags. At this, Tiny turned to face her again, his dark eyebrows furrowed in an expression that mimicked confusion.

"Why you call him that?" he asked, glancing up at Joker as he walked past him to the counters to the set down the bags. A moment later, he had jumped up onto the empty counter space next to the sink to watch Jayde.

"Because that's my _name,"_ Joker answered in a voice that suggested Tiny was a four year old child. For the time being, Jayde remained silent, keeping herself focused on placing a carton of eggs and a half-gallon of milk in the new fridge, for fear that she would say the wrong thing. Darryl made a noise of disapproval from the other side of the table, bringing his mouth away from the newly rolled blunt to toss a hand at Joker.

"Man, no it's _not," _he rebutted. "That's your alias or whatevuh. Your name is Kie-"

At this, Jayde cut in from where she stood beside Joker's seat on the counter. "I met him as the Joker," she explained, glancing up at him as she patted him lightly on the knee and a small smirk jumped to his face as her eyes locked onto his but she glanced over to Tiny and Darryl a second later. "I didn't know him as 'Kieron', so I feel weird calling him that."

"Yeah, well-" Tiny went on with it but Jayde was momentarily distracted from listening when Joker grinned and leaned down to peck a quick, grateful kiss on her lips, causing her to blush deeply before she turned away to continue emptying the bags.

The rest of that afternoon passed a leisurely crawl, with Joker, Tiny and Darryl smoking that second blunt to the face in the living room, talking and laughing occasionally while Jayde watched the new flat screen, taking one or two hits from the cigar when Joker offered it to her. She had purposely chosen to sit next to him on the couch, purely with the intention of being close to him but once he had started to distractedly trace patterns on her shoulder, she had felt herself slipping further and further away from consciousness and closer to a delightful nap. The new couch was, as she had predicted, incredibly comfortable and hugged her ass and legs as she sat Indian style next to Joker and before she could stop herself, the side of her head had made contact with his shoulder, pulling her off into a shallow slumber.

When she woke an hour later, her head jerked up from its place against the cushions of the couch, pulling a cringe onto her features when the stiff muscles gave a quick twinge of strain. From the silence around her, it seemed the house was completely empty, but as the sleepy fuzziness that had filled her brain began to clear, the sound of running water became more distinct and upon looking over, Jayde noticed the sliver of light from beneath the bathroom door. A tiny, mischievous grin met her face when she imagined the Joker naked on the other side of that door and she wondered quickly how suspicious it would seem for her to pretend she had 'forgotten' something in there and needed to come in. Of course, Joker was a very smart man and would instantly see through this so Jayde forewent this plan and instead stood up to go to the kitchen, to begin pulling things together for dinner.

However, after nearly a half hour since she had woken, dinner was well underway, and yet Joker had still not emerged from the bathroom. The water had long since shut off, the bathroom door had been opened but Joker had still not come to find her, which left Jayde to wonder if he was maybe, _possibly _taking care of the one thing she had decided she would not involve herself in yet…A pang of guilt hit her upon wondering this but she ignored it forcefully, figuring it was probably better for both of them that he do it himself…versus going elsewhere to have his tension released. This thought brought a gentle smile to Jayde's face, but a moment later, she jumped with a gasp when a rough set of large hands suddenly met her waist from behind.

"_Damnit, _Joker…I can't hear you walking!" she exclaimed with a laugh, shaking her head as his chin came to rest gently on her shoulder. His baby soft, recently clean shaven cheek met hers and he moved his head, rubbing the stubble-free skin against her.

"I _told _you I'm good at sneaking up on people, lady…" he growled against her neck, reaching up with his opposite hand to pull her hair to the side so he could rest his lips against the curve and the hands that had come to rest on either side of her hips pulled her back against him. "I guess you didn't believe me…" he added darkly a moment later, his deep, raspy voice sending goosebumps all over Jayde, even in places where she did not think possible. She fought hard against a shiver and closed her eyes, tightening her finger's grip on the counter before her as Joker's lips parted to lavish attention on the gentle slope where her shoulder met her neck.

Jayde knew this was her punishment for all the teasing earlier that day, but as Joker's grip tightened yet again to pull her ass even closer to the front of his jeans, she could not help but feel like he was being immeasurably unfair. Everything about him was sexy to her, in every context of the word and he knew _exactly _what it took to get her absolutely soaking wet and practically trembling with arousal.

By the time Jayde remembered what was going on, she had tilted her head back to rest against his chest behind her and Joker's teeth had begun nipping at her neck, just hard enough to hurt and leave tiny red marks along her moistened skin. Jayde's breathing had grown shallow and uneven over the past two minutes and as Joker suddenly let out a rough growl against her neck, his hands tugged back hard on her hips, just as he rocked his forward, pushing her into the counter before her. Her back bent slightly as Joker leaned forward, bending her until her forearms rested on the counter. Only then did he release his grip on her hips, but only to run his hands along her deep curves before digging his thumbs into the small of her back. Jayde's jaw dropped a second later when she felt an unmistakable pressure against her ass, a staggered breath escaping Joker along her neck as he rocked his hips forward once.

"I want you _so _bad…" he said, his voice rough and deeper than usual with raw desire. "But I'm trying _real _hard to be a good boy…" he then added, again parting his lips to let his tongue just barely taste that delicious curve of her neck before kissing her there gently. Jayde held her breath, keeping her half-lidded eyes fixed on the newly tiled section of wall between the counter and the bottom of the cabinet before her. But as Joker's fingers slid from her hip, along her lower torso to where her legs met her body, Jayde let out an instinctual moan when the tip of his middle finger pressed against her clit through the thin material of her leggings. Her knees gave out, causing her buckle against the counter, but she caught herself, rising onto her tiptoes a moment later when Joker's finger began to rub circles around her most tender spot.

"I just thought you should know how it feels…" he went on, again sinking his teeth into the curve of her neck. "…-to be teased 'til it hurts…"

By now, Jayde was practically shaking against the counter, her nerves firing on all cylinders, causing her entire body to feel as though it was on fire. There was no way she could have predicted how good it felt to be touched by him again, it had been longer than she thought since the last time. However, as Joker's fingers left her and he took a half-step back, Jayde turned quickly to face him, her mouth open, about to beg him to fuck her _now_, right there in the kitchen. But before she could find the right words, Joker had already flashed that evil, devilish smirk, his dilated, black eyes glistening wickedly before he turned and left the kitchen abruptly, stalking smoothly to the front door, where he disappeared beyond it and out into the evening.

For several seconds, Jayde stood there, absolutely blown away. Within less than five minutes, Joker had evened the score, even taken the lead, leaving her in a literal puddle as she remained frozen to the counter, staring at the back of the closed front door.

"…GOD _DAMNIT, _JOKER!_"_

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_A/N: Weeheehee, I love teasing you guys! This chapter was fun to write as it had almost zero plot, but have no fear...things are about to start happening...As you all know, I like a good, strong build up to the main storyline so for those of you who understand and dont mind a few fluffball chapters, then fantastic, I love ya'll. For those of you who DO mind a few fluffball chapters?...I think there's a Twilight fic or something you might enjoy...Anyways, until next Friday...and if I get more than seven reviews on this chapter, I'll add a NICE LONG LEMON in the next 'episode'...so LET ME SEE THOSE REVIEWS!- QoM_

_P.S.- Thanks so much to those of you who are consistent and leave reviews. You all have no idea what you mean to me and this story._


	19. No Rhyme Nor Reason

It was not the lack of weight next to her in the bed that confused Jayde the following morning, but rather that as she turned over to see where Joker had gone, her sleepy eyes drifted to the half-opened doorway to find that a light had been turned on out in the living room. A groggy, squinty-eyed frown mangled her features as she glanced back over at the window, only for the small wrinkle between her eyebrows to deepen when she noticed that the sun had only just risen and was now scattering random, golden beams of light into the room. The rest of the house seemed quiet, but as Joker's deep, purposely quiet voice drifted back into the bedroom from seemingly out in the kitchen, Jayde pushed herself up into a sitting position to go find him.

Back in New York, Dotcom had managed to find Jayde a pale turquoise robe made of light, thin material that was much too long for her and trailed behind her when she moved. At first, she had told him that it was a bit ridiculous to own such a garment when it was clearly not made to keep one warm, but after trying it on, she found that she absolutely loved the way the loose sleeves fell to her forearms, the way the long, flowing material felt against her skin and pooled at the floor around her feet…Not to mention how it made her feel admittedly a bit like royalty…This particular garment had been tucked down into one of the drawers of her dresser and after pulling it out, Jayde slid into it quickly before drifting sleepily from the room.

The living room was still dark, save for the scant light filtering in through the sheen drapes from the slowly rising sun and Joker's voice was growing louder as she neared the kitchen, his words now clear and audible. The light over the carved table had been turned on and several sheets of paper, along with that book of names and faces from the Chicago police department lay scattered along the wood in front of a chair that had been pushed back and abandoned. With her curiosity getting the better of her, even half-awake, Jayde paused at the table, reaching out slowly to shift one piece of paper to the side, to see what had been written on the one beneath it but jumped a second later when Joker's voice suddenly broke the silence.

"No, _I _have no problem with that," he was saying to someone on the other end of the phone he had pressed to his ear, his voice bearing that characteristic clowniness that Jayde had so often admired. "I suppose the better question would be, do _you _have a problem with it. I don't wanna get a call in a few hours and hear, '_Oh, I've changed my mind'_…" he went on, folding his unoccupied arm across his chest to grip the opposite one holding the phone. His eyes had fixed on Jayde's, but she was not returning the contact and was instead distracted by taking in his current outfit of black slacks and one of his white Oxford button-down shirts. His gray pinstriped vest had been applied over the shirt and now lay open against his torso…Just beneath it, Jayde could see two sets of straps, one belonging to that double-gun holster that hooked behind his back, the other set, to a pair of black suspenders…Jayde swallowed hard when she felt her mouth begin to water. Joker was still on the phone, still watching her with a very perceptive smirk on his face.

"Right." he said suddenly, pulling Jayde's eyes from drifting dreamily along his broad shoulders. "And I can expect payment by no later than nine tomorrow morning, _yes?"_ There was a pause, where Joker's eyebrows rose and his eyes slid upward and rolled to the side as he squinted, clearly awaiting the other persons reply. A moment later, he gave one nod of his head with finality before pulling the phone away from his ear to push the red button with his thumb. "Fan-_tastic.."_ he then growled as the phone dropped onto the counter beside him with a clatter. The curved scars on either side of his mouth twitched upward as a silly, mischievous grin attacked his face and he leaned forward slightly, cocking his head to the side cheekily. "_Hiiiiii…_" he growled.

Jayde could not help but return the smile as she took a few careful steps toward him, already sensing that his energy was at a higher level that morning as he had obviously been planning something since the random, mysterious phone calls he had been taking the previous night after dinner.

"Hi," she answered, reaching out with both hands to take a gentle hold of either side of the front of his vest and pull it together across his torso, adjusting it as if to see what he looked like once it had been buttoned. "You look…nice," she went on to compliment him, quickly choosing to replace the words 'fucking hot' with something less deliberate.

"Well, _thank _you…" Joker replied, his voice bouncy and clowny. He paused a second later, squinting slightly as he studied the hesitant, curious expression on her face. "And…_I'm _betting…you're about to ask…where I'm going…_right?"_

Jayde nodded immediately, grinning somewhat sheepishly up at him as he shifted his feet to move further apart so he could lean against the counter and be more at her level with his hands linked together behind her back. However, as he hesitated, she shrugged, leaning toward him to slide her hands inside his vest to grip both sides of the leather gun straps against his shoulders.

"But if you can't tell me, I understand," she offered, tilting her head to the side to grin playfully up at him. "I'd hate for you to have to kill me…"

At this, Joker let out a deep grunt of a laugh, rising to his full height to turn her and place his hands on her waist, lifting her from the clean, tiled floor onto the counter. His hands rested on either side of her to lean on them, letting out a quiet sigh through his nose as he studied the peaceful, sweet expression on her face. Jayde watched him in return, admiring the way his brown eyes bounced back and forth a few times between her blue ones, as though curious to see if they differed at all.

"I have something to take care of in the business district today," he explained several long moments later, watching closely as Jayde's eyebrows began to furrow slightly in confusion. However, his wavy blonde hair moved with him as he shook his head, warding off her next question before she could begin asking it. "That's all I can tell you, precious."

Jayde nodded an understanding in return, once again reaching out her hands to grip the bottom of his vest with the tips of her fingers, to begin sliding the buttons through the holes on the other side of the material.

"What time will you be home, then?" she asked, bringing her gaze up from what she was doing to his eyes, only to look back down somewhat sheepishly when she found Joker smirking at her. He knew it embarrassed her that he found her questions so nauseatingly cute but he didn't care; he liked that she missed him when he was gone and almost always asked when he would be coming back. With a shrug, he glanced down at his now buttoned vest.

"Probably not until this evening," he answered with a quick shake of his head. Before he had even looked up again, Joker could practically hear the disappointed expression falling onto her face, so he pushed his bottom lip out in a very pouty frown, causing Jayde's crestfallen eyes to light up in a small giggle. "Don't be sad, Jaybird, I'll be back before you know it." He reassured her a moment later, tapping the underside of her chin with the side of his finger before he turned to walk away, over to the carved table, where he folded one of the pieces of paper and tucked it into the inner pocket of his vest. His heavy black coat had been draped over the back of one of the chairs and as he slid into it, Jayde hopped down from the counter, following him over to the garage door, where he paused and turned to look down at her.

"Just please be safe," she cooed, tilting her head back so she could look straight up at him, only to grin when he groaned, hunching his shoulders.

"_Moooooooom….."_

"I'm serious! I don't care _who _or how many peopleyou kill, just…make sure you get back here in one piece, ok?" she reiterated, folding her arms across her middle to close the thin robe around herself when Joker pushed open the garage door behind him, letting in a cold draft of outside air. He rolled his eyes heavily.

"_Fine…"_

After a hasty kiss, Joker was through the door in a blur of black, leaving Jayde standing alone in the kitchen with a rather wistful expression on her face. It was incredibly surprising to her how much life with the Joker had improved over just the past three days and as much as she truly wanted to accept it as the way things would be from now on, there was something keeping her from fully believing it. It just seemed so unlikely that the Joker, the king of chaos and disorder, would be content with one woman, the same woman every day, all the time. She hated herself for wondering when he would grow tired of her…But then again, it had been over a year since that fateful night when he had stormed into Starbucks and taken her as his captive and he had yet to show signs of boredom with her. Perhaps she should just wait until they reached that bridge…_then _she could cross it. For the time being however, that silly, content grin stayed plastered to her face, and she floated back to the bedroom in her flowing robe to catch another hour or two of sleep.

It was not long after Joker had pulled the Escalade from within the confines of the garage that he was nearing his destination, on Himes avenue, also known as the wealthier, upper-class district where most of the largest corporations in Chicago held their headquarters. Huge, glass front sky scrapers lined the street and Joker could not stop himself from reflecting wistfully back on the time when he would spend days at a time, poring over blueprints, deciding where exactly he would need his teams to place explosives in order to take down the building. There was something so refreshing and exhilarating about a good explosion. It filled him with a thrilling sense of power and pleasure to which nothing else on earth could compare…besides maybe fucking Jayde…that was a pretty great feeling too. Of course, it had been some time since he had experienced that particular sensation and seeing how he was not planning to blow up any buildings any time soon…..

As he sat slouched in the driver's seat, gazing casually at his surroundings and throngs of businesspeople going here and there to their pointless meetings, Joker reflected back on that morning, hating himself for the small smirk that appeared on his face moments later. He had already established, fairly early on, that Jayde always looked sexiest to him first thing in the morning, when her hair was all frizzy and tangled, her makeup that she had failed to wash off the previous night all smeared around her eyes and her lips slightly swollen and more pouty than usual. And yet, something about that particular morning had been different. He hadn't been staring at her perky, morning nipples through her tank top, he hadn't been secretly coming up with conniving ways of getting her back in the bed…In fact, he had honestly just been the slightest bit glad she had woken up and come to find him before he left. Yes, he had been putting on a bit over the past few days, exaggerating his normally scarce affection in order to win her over a bit more quickly but earlier in the kitchen, he had not been trying any harder than he normally would have done. He really _was _happy to see her.

This train of thought led him to another. When and where, and in what universe had he suddenly become the sort of guy to enjoy having someone there to greet him when he returned to the place he currently called home? Before he had met Jayde, it had been customary for him to leave for days at a time, go and do _nothing _for days at a time, without any concern for what he had left behind. He would return to his…lair, mansion, house, hotel, whatever, and feel completely relaxed and content with being alone. He actually _preferred _it.

_Now…_things had changed. Now, he found himself making up progressively lame excuses to be around her. Even back at the house in Gotham, there had been something rather rewarding about returning home and having at least one face with a grin attached that was happy to see him, relieved even that he had come home alive. Joker tried to remember the last time he had felt annoyed in her presence, besides during his 'dark period' immediately after Tre's death, but he could not recall. He wondered if it was maybe just himself getting older that was bringing this desire for companionship on. It had never, _ever _been in his nature, even before his scars, to enjoy the company of one woman at a time and had usually preferred the 'company' of several at the _same _time. And yet, _now, _as much as he hated to admit it, he realized that Jayde really was enough for him. Even if she wasn't enough for him, he felt he had to _make _her enough for him, knowing full well that if he were to go off and mess around with someone else, Jayde would leave him forever, possibly even slit his throat in his sleep or worse…turn him into the police.

No, Jayde was just right for him, as much as he had tried to deny that while Tre was around. He liked the way she looked up at him, he liked the way she scratched his back when he was falling asleep or kissed his neck and most importantly, he _loved _the way she was perfectly fine with him killing people. Obviously, it was not her _favorite _part of him and he would never expect it to be, but just the fact that she had come to terms with it and accepted him, despite that small area of his person, made her that much more attractive to him. He could not help but feel like there weren't many other women in the world that would accept him _exactly _the way he was.

That day passed more slowly than the rest had since returning to Chicago and Jayde could only blame this on the fact that she was alone, without anyone tall, handsome and sexy to distract her from the time. It seemed, now that she had few hundred minutes alone to think, that time and life outside the house at the corner of Lincoln and Platt had stood still, seemingly all that had mattered over the past three days was being around her man, spending time with him and slowly repairing their formerly broken relationship. Jayde had not even thought to turn on her phone since leaving New York and as she thought of Dotcom and wondered how many times he had called over the past seventy-two hours, she jumped up from the couch to run into the bedroom and retrieve the phone and charger.

It took a few minutes for the Blackberry to completely load, but once it had and had been plugged into the charger near the front door, Jayde stepped outside on the porch for a cigarette, grinning to herself when the phone began to ding and ring with unheard messages and missed calls. Without looking, Jayde could predict that at _least _half of them, if not all of them, were from Dotcom but as she glanced down at the screen and saw at least three missed calls from someone of the name 'Charlie', her heart stopped momentarily and her smoke caught in the back of her throat. She had almost completely and entirely forgotten about her new friend.

It had been almost an entire week since she had returned his texts asking where she was and it was clear from the missed calls that he had not stopped trying to reach her. Her text message inbox had several new messages, one or two from Dotcom and one from Charlie. She opened that one first.

"_I hope you're doing alright. I know breakups are hard so if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."_

Jayde rolled her eyes heavily as she exited the screen. Of _course, _he was there to talk to her about her 'breakup'…What guy _wouldn't _be there to talk a girl through her breakup? She could only imagine his advice as having to do with something like 'you need to just move on, find someone new, blah, blah, blah…'. For this reason, among many others, Jayde was immensely thankful that things had worked out between she and Joker.

But since Charlie had truthfully been very kind to her in offering his help, she felt she ought to return his text message. So she opened a blank text screen and began typing.

_"I'm back in Chicago. Things worked out between him and I but thank you for offering to talk to me. We should meet for coffee soon and catch up!"_

After sending this, she immediately dialed Dotcom's number, hoping he would not be at work. However, after nearly six rings and no answer, Jayde hung up with a sigh, figuring that he was indeed working and that he would call her later when he got out. A moment later, after setting her phone down on the table beside her, it let out a short ding, notifying her that she had received a text message. It was from Charlie.

"_Sounds good. Tomorrow?" _

Jayde could not see why that wouldn't be fine, so after agreeing that they would meet at Martin's at noon, she put the phone back down and went about thoroughly enjoying her cigarette while wondering idly where Joker was and what sort of crazy shenanigans he had gotten himself into.

The sun had just gone down when the Escalade pulled into the driveway at the corner of Lincoln and Platt and Joker let out a sigh as stepped into the warm interior of his house from the garage, a large sniper rifle at his side. The heavy, cool metal met the wooden table with a loud thunk, followed closely by his thick black coat and he was about to remove his gloves when he decided he might as well clean the damn thing before stowing it away in Tre's closet, just in case.

"_Honey, _I'm HOME!" he shouted sarcastically into the silent house, his eyes rolling upward and to the side as he awaited an answer. However, when the seconds ticked by without any answer or without any Jaydes trotting around the corner to greet him, he rolled his eyes again, more heavily this time as he rounded the table to sit down at his usual place after yanking several sheets of paper towel from the roll in the kitchen. _Must be asleep…_ he thought to himself as he pulled the gun toward him. It just figured she would have been so concerned earlier that day with what time he would be back, only to be sleeping soundly when he did eventually return. Part of him wanted to go find her, pounce on top of her on the bed to wake her up but he figured he would leave her alone…since there was good chance being on the bed with her would leave him with another nasty case of blue balls.

A fair amount of gunpowder residue had been caked into the interior of the gun's barrel, leaving Joker to furrow his eyebrows in concentration as he pushed a wad of paper towel down into it, twisting it slowly to catch as much of the black soot as possible. This proved more difficult than he had originally estimated and as a sizable chunk of the paper tore off and remained stuck down in the barrel, he let out a short groan of frustration. Somewhere in his room, in one of the bags he had brought from Gotham, was a box of 'professional' gun cleaning equipment, but going into the bedroom meant laying eyes on Jayde's curvy, sleeping figure so he forewent that plan and instead set the barrel down to begin working on the other parts. However, just as he did this, he nearly jumped when Jayde appeared next to him out of nowhere, pushing the disassembled gun pieces out of her way before climbing onto the table in front of him, wearing a short, black, casual dress. Her feet came to rest delicately on the edges of the chair on either side of his legs and she scooted toward him, inching her ass to the edge of the table in short motions, clearly in an effort to prevent picking up any splinters in the back of her legs…The dress she was wearing was indeed _very _short…

"Well hello there…" Joker growled, slowly bringing his eyes up from her closed knees to her face, where Jayde watched as his gaze bounced back and forth between her eyes a few times.

"Hi," she purred in return, leaning toward him slightly to reach out with both hands, fitting her fingers into the outer edges of his vest to pull gently. At first, Joker did not seem to get the point and remained seated, although a moment later, his eyebrows raised and he motioned to the gun parts now strewn along the table behind her.

"I was kinda in the middle of cleaning tha-" he started to say but Jayde jumped in, tugging harder on his vest.

"Shut up," she snapped playfully, grinning down at him as his expression quickly dissolved and his eyes flickered down along her curvy figure.

"Yes, _ma'am…"_ he growled a few seconds later, finally getting the point and rising slowly to his feet as Jayde continued to pull steadily on his vest. She watched him stand and sat up straight on the table, arching her back slightly to glance up at him before letting her gaze drop to the buttons on his vest, where her fingers had now started to push the circle of black metal through the loop behind it.

"I missed you today," she cooed, again dropping her head back to look straight up at him. His eyes were narrowed, had already grown dark and dilated, like a predator watching its prey and the growl that escaped his chest only added to the metaphor.

"Is that right…" he asked, although the inflexion in his voice did not indicate a question. Jayde nodded quickly, parting her lips to show bit of her teeth in a playful grin.

"Mm-hm," she answered, glancing back down to find that she had now reached the last button and as his vest came undone, she slid her hands past the warm material to curl her fingers around his suspenders, just over his hipbones. "I have something for you." She added quietly a second later.

By now, Joker seemed to have caught on and was resting his hands on the table on either side of her to lean down slightly, meeting her eyes directly. He glanced down quickly at her lap and the knees that since parted before he looked back up, slowly tilting his head to the side.

"What color is it?" he asked, his voice low but raspy with that hint of clowniness that he had only just recently taken to using again. His lips found a place against her neck but he did not kiss her yet and merely breathed along the skin there, carpeting her in goosebumps. Jayde giggled, rocking her head to the side as he nudged her gently with his nose.

"Pink…"

Joker hummed against her neck, finally pursing his lips to leave a soft kiss there. "Is it…small?"

Jayde's hands moved to his shoulders as her playfulness began to dwindle to make way for the freight train of lust that was beginning to barge its way through her veins.

"Yes…" she hissed into his hair, conscious now of Joker's hands that had migrated to her thighs, where he slowly started to push the soft material up, the leather of his gloves cool against her skin.

"Is it _tigh-t?"_ he went on with his game, adding sharp emphasis to the last letter of his question. By now, the material of her dress had made it all the way up to where her ass made contact with the wood of the table and Joker's lips were replaced with his forehead against her neck as he looked down at her lap. Jayde giggled again, parting her knees further to show him the object of his guessing game.

"You tell me…"

At this, Joker let out a rough groan against her neck, sliding his eyes closed as he rocked against her on the table, seemingly unable to imagine a more perfect gift than a perfect, bare pussy. Jayde tilted her head back, smirking to herself in triumph as Joker's hands took a tight hold of her hips, but a moment later, she sat up, pushing gently on his chest until he took a half-step back. Moving slowly to the very edge of the table, Jayde watched his eyes as she slid from the wood, landing lightly on her toes to take a few steps away from him toward the living room, glancing back at him over her shoulder playfully.

"If you want me, ya gotta catch me first," she told him in a sultry, somewhat husky voice before she let out another giggle and trotted away from him toward the bedroom.

Joker watched her ass bounce away from him and for a moment or two, he considered falling to his knees right then and there and praising whatever god he believed in for the way his night was about to play out, but instead of wasting any time with nonsense, he stalked after his gazelle until he turned the corner into the blue-lit bedroom. In the light of the muted tv, Joker could see the hourglass silhouette of his prize standing near the foot of the bed, grinning at him. His heart had already started racing and as he advanced toward her, his hands reached out for her hips, tugging her to him forcefully to let his lips crash heatedly into hers. It seemed from the way Jayde rose onto her toes that she was hoping he was about to pick her up, so he obliged willingly, moving his hands from her hips to her perfect ass, gripping her tightly to lift her off of her feet and into his lap as he dropped to a sitting position at the end of the bed.

Lips and tongues tangled passionately, Jayde's fingers slid onto his chest to push his vest from his shoulders until it fell down his arms to be discarded quickly and tossed blindly across the room. Joker's hands had found their own duty in pushing the tight material of the bottom of her dress up over her ass, but as Jayde seemingly noticed the feel of his leather gloves against her bare skin, she pulled away from his mouth, staring at him breathlessly through the dim light. Reaching behind herself, she brought his left hand around to the front where she gripped his wrist and brought his middle finger up to her mouth. Joker watched in anticipation as she gently bit down on the tiny space of extra material at the tip of his finger before she tugged, slowly pulling the glove from his hand before she tossed that in the same direction she had thrown his vest. Her lips parted into a sinister, antagonizing grin as Joker's eyes narrowed on her lips yet again.

Instead of waiting and allowing her to torture him further by doing the same thing with his other glove, he beat her to it and yanked the leather from his hand himself, replacing both of them at her exposed waist, below the bunched material of her now useless, hindering dress. His thumbs dug into that soft space of flesh above her hipbones, relishing in the staggered breath that escaped her, her back arching beneath his touch. A moment later, she seemed to remember that she was supposed to be removing certain articles of his clothing and quickly reached out to slide the straps of his gun holsters from his shoulders before doing the same with his suspenders, letting them lay idly on either side of him, still attached to his pants. Her hips then ground against his lap, forcing his head back and a deep groan from his throat as she put pressure on what was now an excruciatingly hard dick.

"Jayde," he breathed her name against her neck, ashamed when he noticed his hands shaking slightly in anticipation. "I can't take this much longer."

Jayde understood exactly where he was coming from, knew exactly what he meant and as she began to quickly undo the buttons on his white shirt, starting with the second one from the top, she pulled back to gaze at him closely in the flickering blue light of the tv behind her.

"You gonna let me finish this time?" she asked in a quiet, playful tone but was being perfectly serious in her question. An abrupt, confused expression furrowed Joker's eyebrows as he stared at her somewhat blankly, shaking his head slightly as though completely taken aback.

"Was I not letting you cum?" he asked in response, as though he really had no idea he had been committing such an atrocity before she left for New York. Jayde shook her head, biting down on her bottom lip, only to gasp when Joker suddenly threw her to the side, onto her back on the bed. He joined her within seconds, shedding his shirt hastily to toss it behind him. "Well, then _that _is my mistake…" he growled, pushing her dress up further and further along her torso until she had to lift her shoulders to discard it completely. "_Thank _you for bringing it to my attention."

At this, Jayde gasped, arching her back when Joker pushed two fingers deep into her, using his other hand to push down on her lower tummy while the middle finger inside her stroked what she now knew as her 'G-spot'. Within two seconds, her breathing had grown shallow and uneven as pleasure such that she had never felt radiated through her from the tips of her toes to the very top of her head. She supposed this was only due to the fact that it had been two full weeks since _any _contact of this kind had been made with her more private areas. Joker had lay down on his side just next to her, watching her face closely as she closed her eyes, tilting her head back as her jaw dropped and her muscles constricted tightly around his fingers.

"Joker," she whimpered a few seconds later, reaching down to his wrist between her legs to pull his hand away from her. "Please…" she went on. "This is torture."

Beside her, Jayde heard him let out a short giggle through his nose and he pushed himself up off of his side, down to the edge of the bed where he gripped her thighs and pulled her closer with a strong tug.

"_Nooo…" _he crooned in that clowny voice. "You_ said _you wanted to cum, _right?" _

With that, Jayde cried out, arching her back off the mattress as Joker's warm tongue licked her from entrance to clit, curling the tip when he reached the top, only to begin sucking gently on it. Three of his fingers joined his mouth a moment later, sliding into her deeply to begin moving back and forth within her and within seconds, Jayde could feel herself already close to finishing a first time. With her sensitivity at a peak, it seemed Joker knew _exactly _what to do and as he felt her inner walls begin to quiver and grow warmer, he pulled his mouth away, sinking his teeth gently into her thigh, still allowing his fingers to move forward and back. Moments later, Jayde gasped, only to let out a raspy whimper as she came, practically trembling from head to toe as her walls clenched tight and relaxed rhythmically around Joker's fingers, that had since slowed their movement into something that almost mimicked an internal massage.

With a sigh, Jayde felt her entire body go weak and her hands fell to either side of her hips, her legs dropping from the edge of the bed. But as Joker resumed his position, Jayde's eyes slid open only to look up and watch as he slid two of his sticky fingers into his mouth, licking tastes of her juices from them and from the scarred corners of his mouth. Jayde sighed again, sliding her eyes closed but forced them right back open when Joker spoke.

"Ah, ah…I'm not done with you yet," he growled, leaning down to watch her eyes closely as a spark of renewed zest appeared there. Her lips parted into a sassy, sexy grin as she reached down, quickly fumbling with the button and zipper on his black pants before succeeding to push them down from his hips and over the curve of his ass. Joker let out a staggered, relieved breath against her neck as the pressure on his throbbing dick was relieved but as Jayde's hand pushed down behind his boxers, to wrap her fingers around him firmly, a rough groan of impatience escaped him, his hips bucking against her grip slightly.

"Big boy…" she purred in his ear, gently moving her hand from the base of him to the tip where she quickly moved her thumb across the head, swiping a bead of precum from the end of him. As if to distract himself, Joker reached down to between her legs, circling her entrance with his middle finger, though this seemed to only frustrate him further as he grunted against her neck.

"_Please _let me fuck you now…" he growled, his deep voice quivering a bit as the need to thrust himself into her reached a peak and Jayde giggled against his shoulder, releasing her grip on his dick so he could rest himself between her thighs. She could feel his warmth against her and as his hands rested on either side of her ribs, Jayde opened her eyes, staring up at him as he seemed to hesitate.

"I'm _waiting…" _she purred, arching her back slightly to grind her hips, purposely rubbing her entrance against the leaking head of his dick. Joker leaned back, away from her as he cocked his head to the side.

"Any last requests?" he asked jokingly, throwing out one last attempt to tease her before he plunged both of them into a place where they would likely be in capable of words. Jayde's nails dug into his forearms as she squirmed impatiently beneath him.

"Just go slow at first," she told him, figuring that the size of him and the fact that she had not felt him in a while might cause it to hurt just a bit. At first, Joker wanted to laugh and tell her how he had been planning to go slow at first anyway, seeing how he already felt close to finishing but instead of wasting yet more time, he rocked his hips forward, pushing into her as slowly as he could manage.

Jayde whimpered as he began to stretch and fill her, cringing as she glanced down between their bodies and her nails deepened their grip on his forearms, her stomach quivering a bit as she struggled to take even breaths. It stung and hurt like she had predicted but as the warmth and thickness of the Joker filled her, she was not sure where the pain stopped and the pleasure began.

"_God, _Joker…" she whimpered against his cheek, sliding her eyes closed as he leaned over her. His lips were just next to her ear and as he exhaled slowly in a staggered, rather shaky breath, Jayde shivered, emitting a short moan as he began to move his hips forward and back.

"Is that ok?" he asked, his voice huskier and more raspy than usual with the effort he was putting into keeping himself from downright moaning at the sensation of her impossibly tight, wet, warmth surrounding him. Jayde nodded hastily against his cheek, tightening her knees grip on his hips.

"It hurts but-…" she paused, turning her head to press her lips against the one sensitive spot on his neck. "-I like it…"

Joker growled against her jawline, swinging his hips with a bit more momentum and strength, rocking more deeply into her. "Hmmm…._That's _what I like to hear…"

The sound of their heavy, labored breathing created something like music as Joker thrust into her deeply, slowing his pace every now and again when he felt himself growing closer and each time, Jayde whimpered against his shoulder, until he sat up out of her reach to press his thumb against her clit. The muscles along Jayde's back tightened her into an arch, forced her toes to point against his hips and she panted, letting out a few short whimpers as his thumb rubbed circles around her, his fingers intermittently massaging the moist lips of her pussy around him as he rocked into her steadily.

Hands in need of something to hold onto reached out to him, raking her fingernails along his stomach, leaving red lines down his torso, which prompted Joker to pick up his pace and Jayde's noises responded accordingly, growing louder and more desperate the closer she got to her finish. Her eyes had been closed since Joker sat up but as his hips thrust harder yet, his rough voice pulled her back to him.

"Look at me," he instructed, his voice deep and husky but Jayde barely heard what he had said over the sound of her own breathing and the pounding of her heart beating in her ears. He repeated himself a moment later, his voice now nothing short of a bark. "_Look at me." _

With a whimper, Jayde forced her eyes open, only to gasp out his name as he suddenly leaned over her, staring directly down into her half-lidded gaze. His hips had now begun to buck roughly against hers, rocking her body into the mattress and as she once again felt herself begin to finish a second time, Joker watched intently, his own breath escaping him in short raspy gasps.

"You gonna cum for me?" he asked a second later, his voice now barely audible as he watched her eyes widen and focus on his as she nodded quickly. "Say my name…_Say it…"_ By now, Jayde was trembling again, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to dig her nails in and cry out against his cheek as he spoke in her ear. "_Say Kieron." _

If Jayde had not been so close to finishing, she would have pulled back to stare up at him in shock, but instead, she obeyed him, arching up against his chest to tilt her head back and cry out the name _Kieron _into the otherwise empty bedroom. He responded immediately to hearing his name leave her lips like that and he groaned deeply against her neck, thrusting his hips hard until that tightening sensation across his midsection became unbearable. Moments later, Jayde whimpered as she felt him spilling into her and his body gave a short, involuntary jerk of pleasure as he hissed a sharp breath of air in through his teeth against her neck. A soft sigh of relief and release escaped Jayde's lips against Joker's mouth as he kissed her wearily, letting out one short groan as he continued to rock his hips slowly against hers, easing himself down from what he considered one of the most powerful orgasms he had ever experienced.

Jayde seemed to share the same feelings as she trembled slightly beneath his warm, slightly sweaty body. Even their kiss seemed weary and somewhat exhausted as their lips moved slowly and yet passionately against each other, parting every few seconds for one or the other to breathe. But as Joker pulled back for a second or two, pausing to pull himself out of her, he returned to kiss her again a moment later, his lips curved upward in a poorly stifled grin. Jayde was not sure what he was smiling about but could not help herself from giggling quietly against his mouth, slowly sliding her hands along his broad shoulders to his upper arms. Joker joined her, laughing breathlessly as he pulled away to bury his face against the curve of her neck, resting on his forearms on either side of her shoulders, gently easing some of his weight onto her.

"_Hiii…" _he rasped against her, nudging the curve of her neck with the tip of his nose, forcing another giggle from Jayde as she blew a bit of his hair from where it had landed her face.

"Hi, mister," she cooed in response as she lightly dragged her nails across his upper back. "I missed that." Joker nodded his agreement before he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, where he paused to adjust his boxers back at their normal place low on his hips.

"_Me _too…" he agreed, but then nodded his head toward the top of the bed, where their pillows lay undisturbed against the purple sheets. "C'mon."

Once he had lay down on his back and adjusted to get comfortable in his usual spot, Jayde joined him, dropping down onto her side against him to rest her head on his chest, choosing to completely ignore the fact that she was still naked. But as the fan blew cool air over them, she shivered and quickly pulled the soft sheets up to her waist, covering her lower half. Beside her, Joker seemed perfectly comfortable and made no attempt to cover himself as well, clearly opting to just lay there and enjoy what was obviously a very relaxed and peaceful moment in his life. His chest rose and fell heavily as he yawned and Jayde tilted her head up to watch the side of his face as he did so, privately adoring the way his scar stretched then returned to normal once his mouth had closed again. His head turned to the side a moment later, his eyes half-lidded and somewhat sleepy as he blinked placidly down at her.

"Why did you want me to call you Kieron?" Jayde suddenly asked, surprising even herself with the way the question in the back of her mind had just fallen out of her mouth without even the slightest shred of hesitation. But as Joker continued to stare at her with no indication that he planned on answering, she shook her head and looked down at his hipbones, reaching out to lightly trace the lining of his boxers just below them. "Nevermind, you don't have to-…" she started to retract her question, but as Joker turned slowly onto his side to face her, she rolled onto her back, hastily moving the purple sheet to cover her now exposed breasts. Joker caught her hand, forcing her to allow the material to fall across her stomach so his finger could lightly trace the curve of her breast.

"I wanted to hear what it sounded like when you said it," he admitted a few silent moments later, his voice soft and almost bearing a hint of something that sounded somewhat embarrassed, maybe even a bit sheepish as he watched his finger's path along her chest. Jayde remained perfectly still and quiet, hoping he would go on. Luckily, he did and lifted his head against the pillow to meet her eyes. A tiny smirk tugged upward on his lips. "I _liked_ it."

The way Jayde's heart fluttered against the inside of her chest made her feel slightly lightheaded and as she reached over with her opposite hand to lightly touch his cheek, she smiled when his eyes slid closed, patiently allowing her to trace the deep groove of his more neat and symmetrical scar.

"I love you," she practically whispered, forcing herself to keep her gaze focused on his eyes when they slowly slid open to reveal the amber brown color within. He blinked somewhat blankly at her, which only helped to broaden the grin on her face; she did not expect him to say it back.

"Why?"

This question broke the silence in the bedroom like the crack of a whip and that silly, girly grin that had glued itself to Jayde's face weakened as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asked confusedly, again adjusting her head against the pillow to see both of his eyes more clearly as Joker shrugged.

"You've said it a couple times now and-…no one's ever said that to me before. I just wanna know _why _you _think _you…" he started to explain, but then cut himself off, clearly uncomfortable with going on to actually say the words out loud. Finally, Jayde understood and her lips tightened as she scooted a bit closer to him, reaching out to begin tracing a light pattern on his chest.

"_Well…_" she started, pausing to glance up at his eyes as he watched her face. "You're…_smart _and…funny and handsome…You're…dangerous and strong but…really gentle when you touch me or kiss me…" Jayde's gaze had once again been focused on watching her fingernail travel along his broad chest but as she glanced up to find that his eyes had slid closed, her grin widened and she leaned forward to kiss his chin gently before she continued. "You…get this certain…look on your face when you look at me…almost like you haven't seen me in years…" Here, Jayde paused to laugh quietly, ceasing her hand's motion against his chest to rest flat against it, to feel the beat against her palm. "You always say exactly what's on your mind, even if it embarrasses me and…I love that about you."

Looking back up at the Joker's face, Jayde sighed through her nose when she found that his eyes were still closed and his breathing had evened out and grown deep. It just figured she would spill her guts about all the things she adored about him, only for him to fall asleep halfway through it as though she had been telling him a particularly boring bedtime story. However, a moment later, when Jayde was just about to turn onto her back to drift off to sleep beside him, Joker's eyes slid open slowly to focus on hers in the darkness. He licked his lips, closing his eyes again to rub the side of his face against the pillow.

"Those are lame reasons…" he murmured, his lips tightening into a sleepy smirk when Jayde giggled, sliding closer to him one last time.

"You make me happy." She concluded. "That's the only reason I need."

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A/N: Yes, Yes, I know…I said I was only going to update on Fridays. Here's why I didn't wait. I wrote this chapter really fast, pretty much all in one day and I LOVE how it came out. EASILY my favorite chapter in this story so far. Secondly, I'm trying to get this story done by Christmas because I have plans for a JnJ Christmas one-shot that I think you guys will really enjoy. So here's how it's going to work from now on…. Leave me a review. It's quite simple really. Leave me your thoughts, whether it be several paragraphs or even a couple of words. I want to know what you thought, whether good or bad. THIS WILL BE THE LAST FULL STORY IN THE JNJ SERIES.  So if you would like for me to get the updates out quickly, leave a review. Do it. Or else I'm holding Joker and Jayde hostage until you do…. Hugs 'n kisses! –QoM

Required reviews before next update: 8


	20. Catching Up

When the Joker opened his eyes to a frizzy bundle of hair pushed lovingly yet annoyingly into his face, his first reaction was to blow it away and bring his hand up to swat at it with a very sour expression on his sleepy complexion. The moment after he had done this however, his foggy brain reminded him vaguely that the hair in fact belonged to someone and had not been placed there to purposely annoy him so he took a deep breath in through his nose, privately sharing a moment with himself to admire the coconut scent of Jayde's curls and admit secretly that he hoped she never switched shampoos. His head sank back into the pillow as he exhaled quietly through his nose.

As the body next to him stirred however, Joker's eyes slid back open, only to squint under the bright sunlight now pouring into the room from the window. From the crispness of the light and the height of the sun over the neighbor's house across the street, Joker's best guess put the time at somewhere after nine o'clock, leaving him to grin foolishly to himself when his mind took him back to the previous night and the reason why the lower half of his body felt so nice. Beside him, Jayde must have been noticing the same sort of resonating, pleasurable ache in her own body as she hummed comfortably, shifting to turn onto her other side, now facing him to rest her scarred cheek against his chest beneath his chin. Joker put great effort into not shivering when her warm breath traveled across his skin.

"G'morning," came her soft, sleepy voice a few moments later, once she had rested her hand atop his slowly rising and falling stomach. With a low, content groan, Joker shifted his shoulders against the bed, tilting his chin back slightly.

"Fan-_tastic…_" he growled in reply. When he felt Jayde lift her head to look up at him in confusion, he glanced down, sliding one eye open slowly to peer down at her. "Oh…sorry…I thought you asked how my dick is feeling this morning…"

The silly giggle that escaped Jayde forced the corners of Joker's lips upward in a smirk, only to part slightly a moment later when she pressed a gentle kiss there. After only a moment, however, she pulled back, opening her eyes just a crack to peer up into his as she licked her lips tauntingly.

"Well, it's good to know that…" she purred, pushing herself up a bit to lean on her elbow beside him, to lightly grace her lips against his without leaving a kiss. "-'cause I was dreaming about it all night."

"Hmm…" Joker growled delightedly, nudging her cheek with his nose. "_Were_ you now…" He asked a moment later, using his deep, morning voice to cover her bare arms and chest with goosebumps. Yes, he knew that she was still naked, but he was waiting for her to bring it to his attention before he started to run his hands all over her. This was easier said than done when Jayde giggled and delicately, purposely rested her chest against his before swinging one of her legs across his waist, straddling him beneath the purple sheet she had just brought up to her shoulders to shield her from the ceiling fan. Joker's eyes traveled down from her face to the perky, 'just-waking-up' nipples she was failing miserably to hide from him. "Now…I _may _be reading too much into this..." he paused halfway through his sentence to bring both of his hands up and run his thumbs across her breasts. "...but it _seems_ like you want a little more..." Here, he brought his eyes up to meet her gaze once more. "…Am I right?"

As Jayde's eyes rolled to the ceiling, playfully contemplating his words, Joker's tongue snuck out to lustfully trace that scar on his bottom lip, his hands snaking down her curvy, hourglass-like sides to frame her hips.

"No, you're right…" she eventually responded, bringing her eyes down to meet his, although a moment later, she rocked her hips backwards, grinding her ass against the growing erection behind her. "-but I don't think 'a little' is the best way to describe it…" she then finished her sentence, parting her lips to grin sassily down at Joker as he let out a short groan.

It was amazing to him, astounding even, how much Jayde had improved her skills when it came to turning him on. A year ago, when she had first become sexually active and decided to give her virginity to him, talking 'dirty', or using her body language to get a reaction from him had embarrassed her, made her feel awkward or stupid, like she was doing it wrong. _Now, _things had progressed to the point where all she had to do was lower her tone of voice and Joker could feel his dick react to her. While this came as a blessing, it was also a horrible curse, seeing how Jayde could simply walk past him and flash him that certain look she got when she wanted it and within seconds, Joker was drooling like a dog. There _was _however, one skill Joker still had over her.

"Wanna play a game?" he asked, raising his eyebrows as he stared up at her.

At first, Jayde hesitated, quickly thinking back to the night of his 'first birthday' where he had asked her this same thing, only to end up practically strangling her to death. At the time, it had scared her and yet partially fascinated her that Joker had perfected the skill of suffocating someone but in retrospect, it _had _felt really good when she did finally orgasm, so she shrugged, deciding to put her faith in the fact that he would not do something to purposely hurt or kill her.

"Sure," she answered, glancing down at his chest beneath her to run her hands along the warm skin there. "What's the game?" Joker licked his lips, rolling his eyes slightly before he met her gaze.

"Well, I'm gonna be nice and let you fuck me…" he explained, hoping Jayde understood that he was not normally one to be ridden or controlled and that he was making a _huge _exception under the circumstances. "_But…_you can't make _any _noise. You have to be silent, the _whole _time…" Jayde's eyes widened as his scars curved upward in a rather sinister grin.

"So what happens if I make a noise?" she asked somewhat hesitantly, again dropping her gaze to look down at her hands, now rested over his stomach in front of her. A moment later, when she glanced back up at him, she found Joker smirking, that familiar, characteristic, devilish smirk that in most cases made people fear for their life…in Jayde's case, it made her a bit weak in the knees.

"If you make a noise, then it's _my _turn…" he answered in a growl. His hands then tightened their grip sharply on her hips, lifting her off of him to push her back only an inch or two until she could drop down onto him to the hilt. At the contact, Joker could not help himself but let out a rough, jagged breath of air, although it seemed from the way Jayde trembled slightly that she was holding her breath to keep from allowing a whimper or moan past her lips. Joker grunted a laugh as he bucked his hips gently beneath her. "You _can _breathe, ya know."

"Shut up, it feels really good," she blurted hastily, sliding her eyes closed as she tilted her head back, slowly starting to rock her hips back and forth. That breath she had been holding in escaped her slowly, from between slightly parted lips and Joker watched eagerly, mildly hoping she would let out some sort of noise to give him permission to take control. But as Jayde seemingly fell into her stride atop him, swinging her hips a bit further, pausing in her rhythm every now and again to roll them slightly, allowing him to reach as deeply as possible before she went at it again, Joker's breathing once again turned rather shallow and labored as he watched her hips roll like a wave atop him. Jayde was doing fairly well with his game and had not made one single sound yet, besides the staggered breaths that escaped her every other second.

After a few quiet minutes, seeing how well Jayde was doing with her silence was starting to frustrate Joker, being that he had always enjoyed listening to her whimper and moan with pleasure and sometimes pain. Her noises normally acted as a guide of sorts for him, letting him know what she really liked or what hurt or how close she was getting to her peak and he was _just _about to grab her hips and buck his upward to make things a little more difficult for her when Jayde tilted her head back and let out the most delicious moan he had ever heard in his life. His eyes widened as she brought her gaze down to meet him and that devilish smirk returned to tug upwards on his scars when she grinned down at him from behind half-lidded eyes.

In a split second, Joker had rolled to the side, taking her with him to lock her on the bed beneath his upper body and strong arms and he shook his head, tossing some of his messy hair away from his face.

"You lose," he growled, rocking his hips against hers. Jayde's eyes slid open to gaze up at him and that grin expanded as she reached up to grip his shoulders and drag her nails down his arms.

"Oh, darn, I guess so…" she answered breathily, glancing down between their bodies to where they were so intimately joined. At this, Joker shook his head with a reproachful tsk when he realized what she had done.

"You _cheated_…" he growled against her neck, sinking his teeth into the soft flesh there, bucking his hips a bit harder when Jayde let out a loud whimper.

"I couldn't-…" she paused to gasp. "-_help it…_I wanted you to fuck me."

By now, words were failing both of them as that familiar freight train of pleasure tightened the muscles along Joker's torso and forced Jayde's toes into arches against his hips. But as Jayde dug her nails into his forearms, Joker reached out, quickly grabbing both of her wrists to pin them tightly to the bed on either side of her head, forcing yet another loud cry from her as her back arched beneath him. Honey blonde curls fell into Joker's face as he leaned over her and he closed his eyes from behind them, trying desperately to fight off his release. But alas, having sex in the morning, right after waking had its up's and extreme down's; the body's nerves and sensitivity was at its peak, making an extraordinarily tight pussy feel even more incredible than it did normally.

As Jayde cried out, Joker was groaning, quickly tossing his head to throw his hair from his face although the action only intensified the movement of his hips and within moments, he was releasing into her, distractedly loosening his grip on her wrists. Jayde could feel him spilling into her and after bucking his hips several last times, Joker collapsed on the bed, laying on his back just next to her, his chest rising and falling rather heavily as he let out a short, blissful groan. Beside him, Jayde let out a silly giggle as she sat up and turned to look down at him.

"I won," she stated, giggling again when Joker shook his head adamantly, his eyes still closed as he pushed the rest of his hair from his face.

"You _cheated,"_ he replied in a raspy growl. "I want a rematch."

Again, Jayde giggled, but as Joker felt her scooting to the edge of the bed, he pushed himself up onto his elbows to glare after her with his eyebrows furrowed. With a toss of her hair, she stood up, pulling the purple sheet from the bed along with her to wrap it around her naked body.

"Well, you'll have to wait," she insisted, casting a quick grin his way as she walked to the dresser to pick up her phone, pausing to glance at the time and quickly type something. "I want to go get coffee," she partially lied, forcing herself to refrain from turning to look at Joker, still laying on the bed behind her . Without even looking, she could practically hear the somewhat confused expression on his face. "I'm going to get a shower, then I'd love to borrow the Escalade if that's alright." At this, she turned to look at him, hoping and praying the expression on her face would not give away the fact that the time was nearing eleven thirty and that she was supposed to be _meeting _someone, _a guy _no less, for coffee. By now, Joker had reapplied his boxers but was still laying in the same spot, watching her. He nodded silently, his face currently blank of any expression. So after Jayde had bounced back onto the bed to press a quick kiss to his lips, she hopped away, down the hallway to the bathroom where she shut the door behind her and turned on the water.

A heavy, comfortable sigh raised and lowered Joker's chest, a quiet groan of content escaping as he exhaled heavily into the empty room. His whole body felt somewhat tingly and he was just wondering why they had never thought to do that so quickly after waking before when a low, buzzing, vibrating noise reached his ears from up on the dresser where Jayde had just been standing. Her phone was going off noisily and as Joker pushed himself up into a sitting position, his face mangled itself into a confused frown. Who on earth would be calling her? It seemed unlikely that Dotcom was not at work on a Tuesday mid-morning, so with his curiosity killing him, Joker pushed himself to the edge of the bed to rise and take a few steps to the dresser where he picked up her phone to glance at the screen. It was a text message…

"_Ok! I'll see you soon!" _

Down the hall, Jayde had just finished rinsing her hair of shampoo and was just leaning down for her bottle of conditioner when she jumped as the sound of the bathroom door swinging open reached her ears beneath the rushing of the water. Her eyes rolled as she grinned to herself, figuring that Joker had finally gained enough energy to get out of bed and brush his teeth. She heard him clear his throat a moment later.

"Hey, wanna meet me at the grocery store? I could use your help again…" he growled loudly to her, his voice raised slightly to be heard over the water. Jayde's grin morphed quickly into a confused frown that wrinkled the line between her eyebrows.

"What?" she asked, but Joker was going on.

"Oh, are you not talking to me? I see how it is…" he continued in that horrible clowny voice and that's when Jayde's heart stopped, her stomach clenched up and giant, almost painful goosebumps rose up along her arms, causing her to shiver despite the warm water flowing over her.

"Joker…" she tried to interrupt but he ignored her.

"Jeez, I _hope _you're _ok…" _he said, his voice a bit louder, putting emphasis on certain words from Charlie's texts from almost two weeks prior. "Call me…I wanna meet for _coffee…" _

Again, Jayde tried to cut in but he spoke over her a second time.

"Hey, sorry I haven't gotten back to you." He was now reading her replies although his voice was now lower in tone than it had been before. "I had a fight with my _boyfriend _so I moved out…That's what _you _said." He then clarified as though Jayde had not understood who had typed such a thing. "He. Doesn't. _Deserve_. You."

At this, Jayde jumped, instinctively bringing up her hands to cover herself when the shower curtain suddenly flew across the railing with a metallic 'shing', to reveal the Joker standing just beyond the edge of the shower, a blank but dangerous expression on his face as he stared directly into her eyes, completely ignoring the fact that she was dripping wet, naked. His eyebrows raised a moment later as his head cocked to the side.

"So _who _is Charlie?" he asked.

The water from the shower head continued to pelt Jayde in the side of her face, causing her to cough slightly as she had been standing there with her mouth open, gaping wordlessly at Joker. When she did not respond immediately, Joker leaned toward her slightly, turning his ear toward her.

"Who's that, you say?" he asked in a higher pitched voice, his eyebrows furrowing in a confused expression as though that was how Jayde was supposed to be looking at him. "Ya know, _Charlie, _the guy you've been _talking _to?" he then clarified, holding up her cellphone to wiggle it back and forth demonstratively. By now, Jayde seemed to have found her tongue.

"He's just a friend, Joker, honestly," she explained hastily, shaking her head slightly as she glanced down at the phone in his hand. "I met him the first time I went to get coffee and we talked for a while. He was nice so…And then when I went to the grocery store a few days later, I ran into him there. I helped him pick out-…" It seemed as Jayde started and ended sentences without completing her thoughts that she was unsure of what she could say to him at this point to smooth over what he had just found in her phone, but as he turned to leave the bathroom, tossing her phone onto the counter as he went, she called after him. "I swear! He's just-" But he had already stalked down the hall and into the bedroom, leaving Jayde to hurriedly toss some conditioner into her hair then rinse it as quickly as possible before climbing out to wrap a towel around herself.

Down the hall in the bedroom, as Jayde came skidding onto the carpet from the hardwood, she paused in the doorway, her eyes falling onto Joker's side profile as he stood at his dresser, pulling on one of his thermal, long-sleeved shirts over a white wife-beater tank top he had already applied, along with his jeans. She knew he had seen her come in but he did not look over or acknowledge her presence. A heavy sigh escaped through her nose as she took a cautious step toward him.

"Joker, he's just a _friend_, barely even that. He's just-…" she was beginning to explain more calmly now that she was feeling slightly less threatened but Joker interrupted her, finally turning to face her.

"If he's _barely _a friend, why did you hide it from me? Better yet, why did you _lie _about it just now?" he asked bluntly, raising his eyebrows expectantly a moment later, although Jayde did not hesitate in her answer.

"Because you probably would have killed me!" she exclaimed, taking yet another step toward him. "This was when you were being really mean and…unpredictable. And I didn't _lie, _ I just didn't tell you I was meeting-…" At this, she stopped, exhaling frustratedly through her nose as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "I'm sorry, I should have told you about him, I was just…" she paused again, but when Joker turned to look at her, she finished her sentence. "-…scared."

Joker did not seem to hear her replies, but merely went about threading a leather belt through the loops of his jeans. "Do you agree with him?" heasked a few moments later, putting much more focus on buckling the belt than he normally would have done as he avoided meeting her gaze. When Jayde did not answer and merely gave a confused look, he sighed, finally standing up straight to look over at her. "Do you agree that I don't deserve you…?"

"Joker…" Jayde started, closing the distance between them to place her hands on his chest and push him back a few steps until he was forced to sit down on the bed. Her knees met the mattress on either side of him as she sat down gently on his lap in her towel, forcefully ignoring the fan blowing freezing cold air over her damp, bare shoulders. "_No…_of course I don't agree with him," she answered softly, reaching up to comb a bit of his hair away from his face, only to scowl in frustration when Joker pulled his head away from her like an annoyed child. But instead of allowing this, Jayde placed her hands on either side of his neck with her thumbs against his defined jaw to force his face back toward hers, waiting patiently for his eyes to meet hers before she continued. "You deserve whatever you want, you _know _that. And when you want something, you take it…like _me." _She cooed, pulling her lips into a small grin as she watched Joker's chocolate brown eyes bounce back and forth between her blue ones. "Charlie's an idiot for saying that, that's why I didn't answer him. You're the only man I've _ever _wanted to be with and I am being _so _serious when I say that."

Truthfully, Jayde _had _in fact agreed with Charlie _at the time, _but things had changed since then and she had meant every word she just said. However, from the emotionless expression on Joker's face, he either did not understand or did not know how to react. So Jayde went on, hoping to somehow stumble onto the words he needed to hear.

"Would it help if I told him I can't meet him?" she asked, secretly hoping Joker would not say yes. She honestly was a bit excited to get out of the house for a latte and a good chat with someone else, but of course, Joker could never know this… Luckily, he shook his head a second later, reaching up to wrap his long fingers around her wrists to pull her hands away from his neck.

"No, you told him you would," he said, but then arched an eyebrow, a hint of that joking, sarcastic glimmer appearing behind his eyes once again. "And I'd hate for you to stand up your _date _for little ol'_ me…"_

Finally, Jayde giggled, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"It's _not _a date," she corrected him, but then tilted her head to the side playfully. "And there's nothing '_little' _about you…" she added, leaning forward to kiss him gently. Joker hummed against her lips but pulled back a few short moments later to raise his eyebrows.

"How 'bout I drive you? That way I can meet this…Charlie guy…" he offered in what could never be considered an innocent manner, with the way he bounced his eyebrows twice. Jayde was quick to shake her head, her eyes widening slightly.

"No." she answered a bit more adamantly than she had meant to, so she went on, a bit less firmly. "You uh-…killed his brother's fiancé back in Gotham when you blew up that accounting firm. He told me about it the first time I met him so…I'm pretty sure he would recognize you with the-…you know…" she explained somewhat sadly, lightly tracing her fingers down his scars to the corners of his mouth. Joker's eyes rolled heavily before he tossed one hand in annoyance.

"Fine, then I won't get out, but I'm still gonna drive you," he informed her. "I gotta few things to take care of so we might as well take one car…reduce carbon emissions.." he nodded, furrowing his eyebrows. "You know how I like to be 'green' n' whatnot…"

After Jayde had reluctantly agreed to allow Joker to drive her to meet Charlie, she quickly got dressed, rolling her eyes every time he reminded her how many minutes were left before noon and tauntingly informed her that it would be rude to be late for her 'very important date'. This constant teasing was annoying to the tenth degree but in hindsight, Jayde really did consider herself lucky to be alive and breathing at the moment. It would have been so in character for him to simply blow her head off or strangle her to death right there in the shower…but as she thought about it, Jayde realized that his ability to believe that Charlie really was only a friend truly spoke to his self-confidence and the great lack of doubt he felt in himself. Most guys, Jayde was sure, would still be wondering curiously if their girl had been cheating on them or if they maybe had not been man enough to keep their girl around…In the Joker's case, he seemed to have every ounce of faith in himself that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the way he did things, especially when it came to Jayde. He must have believed firmly that Jayde was not idiotic enough to even _consider _'cheating' on him with some faggot in glasses that she had only met a few times…This brought a smile to Jayde's face, thankful that Joker knew her true character so well.

By the time the two climbed into the Escalade, the digital clock on the dashboard monitor read '11:57', and as Jayde glanced at it, Joker seemed to notice and smirked down at her as he turned to the right, placing his arm behind her seat to back the giant SUV from the driveway. He licked his lips, squinting slightly as a flash of bright sunlight bounced off the windshield of a passing car on the street behind them.

"Think it's funny you call me your 'boyfriend'," he admitted in a low voice, again letting his eyes glance down at her, only to do a slight double-take when he noticed her features melt into a frown.

"Why?" she asked, wildly curious as to what had made him think to say such a random thing. Beside her, Joker shrugged, now turning to face the front of the car as he pulled the gear shifter next to the letter 'D'.

"Just do." He answered in the most vague way possible, obviously trying to purposely frustrate Jayde as he grunted a laugh when he noticed her expression go completely flat in annoyance. Out of sympathy, he went on with a heavy roll of his eyes. "I've heard myself called _a lot _of names, ya see… _'Boyfriend'_ is not one I've heard…ever."

At this, Jayde laughed, reaching over to pat his knee through the dark denim of his jeans.

"Just be glad I haven't started calling you 'husband'…" she threatened in a falsely dark tone, laughing heartily when Joker shuddered violently in the driver's seat next to her.

Within only ten minutes, the Escalade was pulling up to the curb in front of Martin's coffee shop, where Jayde immediately spotted the side profile of Charlie's shorter stature and just as she noticed he was wearing a different pair of black-framed rectangular glasses, she felt Joker lean toward her from the driver's seat. She hesitated to turn and face him, knowing the smart-ass expression she would find there on his face.

"Hmm…" he hummed interestedly near her shoulder. "He's _cute…" _

"Shut up," Jayde snapped swiftly, turning her head to grin at him quickly as she opened the passenger door. "You're cuter." She then added hastily, leaning toward him to peck one last, hurried kiss on his lips before she slid down from the seat. "Come back and get me in an hour, please."

"_Oooh-kay…"_ Joker agreed somewhat reluctantly, poking out his bottom lip as Jayde shut the door behind her. But as she walked toward the front of the coffee shop, waving her hand as Charlie spotted her and smiled, she froze mid-step when she heard Joker's obnoxiously loud voice ring out over the pavement from the curb. "AND DON'T LEAVE HIM ALONE WITH YOUR DRINK!"

With her back to the Escalade, Jayde could hear Joker giggling through his nose as he rolled the window back up and her eyes slid closed in mild annoyance as she took the last steps toward Charlie. A heavy breath escaped through her nose in embarrassment as her eyes opened again to find Charlie frowning in confusion, watching the street now as the SUV pulled away from the curb.

"Sorry.." she breathed, shaking her head. "He's being-.."

Charlie cut across her, pointing one gloved finger down the street to where the Escalade was now disappearing from sight around a corner. "Was he serious? Does he really think I would put something-…" he started to ask in what could be considered a slightly offended sort of voice but Jayde interrupted, shaking her head adamantly as she led him toward the front doors to enter the warm confines of the coffee shop.

"No, not at all," she answered, rolling her eyes. "He just has a really….unique sense of humor."

After ordering their drinks, which consisted of a soy, vanilla latte for Jayde and a dry cappuccino for Charlie, they found a table near the front windows of the shop…Secretly, Jayde had been hoping they would end up near the giant panes of glass…In the worst case scenario that Joker decided he would like to meet Charlie up close and personal, Jayde would be able to see him coming and run out to drag him back to the Escalade before any tense and potentially lethal situations could arise. On the way to the table, Charlie had grabbed a previously abandoned newspaper from one of the other empty tables and was now unfolding the sports page to quickly read the headlines. So distracted by her steaming cup of foamy coffee, Jayde paid no attention to him at first and merely sipped the latte from the mug, comfortably watching through the window as a small family walked by outside. A few moments later, Charlie's voice pulled her attention back to him.

"So…that…_fight _with your boyfriend…" he started, glancing down at his coffee somewhat awkwardly, as though unsure of whether or not he should have brought it up. Although when Jayde gave no outward sign of discomfort, he went on. "I guess you guys got past it or…whatever?" At this, Jayde nodded, setting down her mug of coffee.

"Yeah, he um…" How much of this should she be giving away? "…He drove up to New York to talk to me and…he apologized and asked me if I would come back with him." She paused, but only to shrug and somewhat awkwardly trace the small handle of the ceramic mug with her fingertip. "I said I would so here I am."

Charlie nodded silently, picking up his cappuccino to take a sip and Jayde felt a wave of relief pass over her, thinking they had moved past that part of their conversation and could now move on to something less personal…maybe something she for which she would not have to pause and consider her answers each time. But as Charlie looked back over at her and took a deep breath, Jayde felt that relief hop away from her.

"Why, though?" he asked, his dark eyebrows furrowing from behind the rims of his new glasses. "Why come back with him? I mean…if he cheated on you…"

At this, Jayde shook her head adamantly, nearly choking on the hot coffee in her mouth in her haste to correct him.

"No, no, he didn't cheat on me." She stated firmly. "He just…wasn't treating me right and…well…" _Oh, god… _"His best friend died about a month ago and he's never had to deal with a death that close to him before…So he was treating me like shit and I was tired of it so I left. I didn't think I would be coming back but he drove up and said he would change his ways…with me. And I believed him." She explained all of this, seemingly without taking a breath and as she inhaled slowly, watching Charlie's somewhat confused expression linger on his face, she hoped sincerely that they could _now _move past this topic. However, again, he shook his head.

"But why?" he asked again, apparently prepared to keep going until he stumbled into the answer he was looking for. "If he was-.." Now, Jayde interrupted hastily.

"Because I love him." She put adamantly, hoping to keep the expression on her face firm, to prevent him from taking this particular conversation any further than it had already gone. And to extend this point and prevent things from growing awkward, Jayde leaned forward on the table, throwing a quick, small smile onto her face. "So what have you been up to while I was gone? Did you manage to get some real groceries?"

Finally, Charlie laughed, but from the half-hearted manner and lack of sparkle to his eyes, Jayde could tell things at home had not been at their best.

"Yeah, I did but-…" he paused, letting his eyes drop to the newspaper in front of him where he was uncomfortably rolling the corner of the paper beneath his finger. "My brother, Michael, has been worse than usual lately. I mean, he's always been kind of a douche bag, but ever since Alicia, you know, his fiancé I told you about? Ever since she died, he's been really bad…Drinking all the time, doing drugs and stupid shit." From the way Charlie's words had started to just flow without any hesitation, Jayde could tell he had been waiting eagerly for someone to vent to. She felt sorry for him and even worse that her _boyfriend _had been the one to ruin his brother's life; she could not let her expression give this away. Charlie was still going on. "And he's constantly getting drunk and yelling at me, making a _mess_ of my apartment but I don't have the heart to make him move out. When he moved here from Gotham, he was talking about killing himself or killing someone _else_ so he could go to prison so I, like an idiot, let him move in with me and…I regret it…a lot." A heavy breath left Charlie as he finished venting but Jayde wished mildly that he had gone on, to give her a bit more time to think of something comforting she could say. Luckily, he went on a few moments later, after picking up the newspaper to flip through the disarranged sections for the front page. "So yeah…I've been trying to deal with him while you were gone."

"I'm sorry,'' she murmured, throwing a sympathetic look his way. "I wish there was something I could do to help…" she lied. Charlie shrugged in response, his eyes now fixed on the front page of the newspaper he had just located

"Eh, it's cool. I've dealt with it for a year, I just hope-…" he had been in the middle of saying something but his voice trailed off as a particular article caught his attention. A second later, he brought the paper a bit closer to his face, his eyebrows furrowing for just a moment before they rose simultaneously in surprise. "Oh, wow, look."

Jayde leaned forward as Charlie turned the paper so she could see what his finger was pointing at. The headline read "_Edward Park, President and CEO of Park Labs Murdered"…_Jayde felt her stomach drop several inches when her eyes fell to the picture below the title of a broken window, high up in a fancy, glass-front business building. Hadn't Joker been cleaning a sniper rifle the night before?...

"That's the one guy that came out and said he had a bunch of evidence against the police about six months ago," Charlie explained to Jayde, who had not been living in Chicago long enough to know about this. Her eyebrows raised but she stayed silent. "Yeah, apparently his company does some of the forensic work for them and I guess he found some…fingerprints or something like that. But then it all went away, like it never happened and Park just told the paper that he had been mistaken and that he was sorry for ever incriminating the 'fantastic' CPD." Charlie paused, pulling the paper back from Jayde to skim through the first few paragraphs of the short article. "Damn, I bet someone from the police had him killed. I bet money they hired some guy to shoot him…"

_I bet you're right…._

For the following forty-five minutes, Jayde and Charlie's conversation stayed relatively lighthearted, laughing as she recounted her time in New York, meeting all of Dotcom's gay friends and her experience out at the club with the previously described gay men. They were just laughing at her colorful description of Preston, the purse-toting homosexual, when vaguely Jayde noticed the huge black Escalade pulling up outside the coffee shop next to the curb and she glanced quickly at her phone, only to groan when she noticed the time.

"I can't believe it's already been an hour!" she exclaimed disappointedly, slowly rising from the chair as Charlie did the same on the other side of the table and he shrugged, grinning.

"Time flies, I guess…"

But as Charlie began to walk with Jayde toward the front door, following her through it, her heart began to hammer incessantly against the inside of her chest. Was he about to walk her to the car? Quickly, in an effort to say wordlessly that she was fine with them parting right there on the sidewalk, Jayde stopped and turned to him, smiling a strained but hopeful grin. She spoke rather loudly, hoping to catch Charlie's attention as he had been peering interestedly toward the blackened passenger side window of the idling Escalade.

"I had fun catching up with you!" she said politely, patting him gently on the arm as he turned his face to grin at her. "We'll have to do it again soon."

Across from her, Charlie had pushed his hands down into his pockets and he nodded, rocking back on his heels. "Yeah, I'll text you soon so we can make-.."

Just then, Charlie turned his head again when both he and Jayde heard the noise of a window rolling down, only to find, over at the curb less than ten feet from them, Joker had rolled down the passenger window of the Escalade and was now leaned toward the open window with his elbow on the center console and his hand up under his chin. A horrible, devilish smirk had formed itself on his face and as a few of his waves across his face, Jayde's heart stopped beating all together, chills slithering up and down her spine; his hair was acid green.

As if some sort of magnet were pulling him, Charlie took an automatic half-step toward the SUV, but Jayde stepped forward, quickly tossing her arms around his shoulders to give him a hasty, preventative hug, distracting him from what he obviously thought was an optical illusion sitting in the driver's seat of the Escalade.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" she asked, nodding as she let go and walked away from him toward the truck, but before Charlie could give an answer, she jumped in and shut the door with a slam, her fingers jumping instantly to the window button. She turned to Joker to find him giggling delightedly to himself through his nose as he shifted the massive SUV back into drive. "Are you _crazy?" _ she asked loudly, glancing back over her shoulder through the window at the back of Charlie as he started to walk away once the vehicle had pulled away from the curb.

"Nope," Joker answered, with a quick, somewhat cocky toss of his head, flinging those toxic green curls away from his face. A moment later, he squinted, tilting his head to the side. "Well….maybe a little, I don't really know.." he then added with another short giggle. When no response came from Jayde, Joker glanced to his right, his eyebrows furrowing deeply when he noticed the way she was fuming slightly, her arms _and _legs folded, her lips pursed and her eyes fixed firmly on the passing surroundings. Joker tsk-ed, tossing his hand. "I go get my hair done, and _you _can't even mention it?" he asked in a very whiny voice, clearly impersonating what he considered a frustrated housewife, but when Jayde simply rolled her eyes, he pushed out his bottom lip, reaching out for her hand.

"_Jaaaaaydieeeeee…." _He cooed in that often-times annoying clowny voice, his grip on her hand growing tighter as she tried to pull it away from him. "Don't be _mad, _he didn't even recognize me."

"You don't know that, he's probably calling the cops right now." Jayde suddenly snapped, finally giving in to let her hand rest on the center console between them as Joker continued to squeeze her fingers. He let out a laugh a moment later.

"I really doubt that," he stated in a growl. "Now, stop being Miss. Pissy Pants and tell me you're glad to see me."

Jayde rolled her eyes, but then half-turned to him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Did you kill that CEO, Edward Park yesterday?" she asked abruptly, watching the side of his face without any hesitation, hoping and praying he was not about to get mad or tell her to mind her own business. But as the scar on his right cheek curved upward at a more severe angle, Jayde felt her nerves relax again; she kept forgetting that Joker was no longer that horrible, moody, asshole he had been a two weeks ago. He nodded enthusiastically, his newly green hair flipping back and forth.

"I sure did. Aren't you _impressed?_" he asked, leaning sideways toward her a bit. Jayde ignored his question, not really quite sure how she felt about him being that one person Charlie had been mentioning, the one person that had been paid off by a police officer to have someone killed. She shook her head, looking up at the side of his face again.

"So what are you now… A hitman or something?" she asked curiously, privately thinking that she was much more comfortable with that choice of profession than she was with him running around, blowing things up and risking death at every turn or spending the rest of his life in prison…Jayde _still _was not sure which outcome was worse. Joker shook his head, readjusting his hands on the wheel.

"I prefer 'killer for hire'," he explained, wiggling his left hand's fingers in a demonstrative sort of way. "'Hitman' is just so…." He squinted at the street ahead, licking his lips slowly. "…outdated." At this, Jayde shook her head, rolling her eyes again as she turned her head to watch a few clothing stores go by on the right.

"Well whatever, I guess you _do _kind of have to have a job if you still want to have money…Maybe I should start looking for work too..." she mumbled, thankful that money was in fact one of the only conversations they had never had up until that point, but as Joker let out a short, loud laugh beside her, Jayde frowned, glancing over at him.

"Jayde, baby, I already have enough money for you to never have to work again for the rest of your life." He stated openly, releasing her fingers from within his grip to link them with his own. "I kill people for money because I'm good at it and it's fun…And if you're good at something, ya _never _do it for free." He explained, smirking to himself. However Jayde had already tuned out and was now slowly turning her head to look up at him, a huge, silly grin plastered to her face.

"…For the rest of my life?" she asked, her grin broadening when Joker did a double-take down at her. He rolled his eyes heavily a moment later.

"Shut up…"

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A/N: OBVIOUSLY, this story is not over yet. When it is complete, I will change its status to 'complete' and I will give plenty of warning before we reach the last chapter. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this one. Relatively short, I know, but the next one is gonna be a doozie so stick with me and LEAVE A REVIEW! -QoM

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Required reviews before next update: 8


	21. Too Good To Be True

The Joker gave a small shiver as a warm weight settled next to him and his eyebrows formed wrinkles across his forehead as he frowned at the bright sunlight falling into the living from the large window behind the couch. He was not sure at the moment how he had ended up there, but as he took a deep breath, only to feel a light weight across his stomach, he exhaled with a heavy sigh, forcing his eyes open into small slits. The scarred corners of his mouth curved upward as Jayde's sleepy, smiling face came into focus.

"You never came to bed last night…" she purred softly, reaching out to rest her hand on the middle of his chest as Joker gladly allowed his eyes to shut again. He shifted his shoulders against the couch with a comfortable grunt.

"Yeah," he answered, his voice deep and gruff with sleepiness. "I found a box of my old books in Tre's closet and…" a short pause interrupted his explanation as he yawned. "…I fell asleep reading-…" Again, he paused, opening one eye to squint down at the upside down, hardback cover of the book laying open across his stomach. "…Diagnostic Pathology of Infectious Disease…"

Beside him, Jayde let out a short snort of laughter through her nose as she picked up the book, to set it on the coffee table before moving gently to lay down atop Joker with her cheek against his chest.

"Sounds like a real page-turner…" she murmured sarcastically, adjusting her hips to make them both comfortable as Joker nodded in response, wrapping his arms across her side, to make her into an improvised, human blanket.

"Which explains why I fell asleep reading it, no?" he asked, smirking to himself from over her head when Jayde giggled softly against his chest. "Looks like you survived the night without me though."

"Barely…" she answered, letting out another short giggle as she tilted her head back to press one light kiss to the underside of his jaw.

A few moments later, both jumped when a sudden knock at the front door startled them from the comfortable silence that had settled its way into the living room and Jayde sat up immediately, causing Joker to groan as her hands dug into his stomach. She laughed, patting him on the chest as she stood up.

"Don't worry, I'll get it." She told him sarcastically when Joker made absolutely no attempt to get up, but he groaned again, more loudly as he reached out for her wrist.

"_Nooo…" _he whined, tugging gently on her. "Don't answer it. It's probably just a Jehovah's Witness or…something equally as annoying."

At this, Jayde scowled down at him scornfully, pulling her hand away from him as she moved toward the door. "Hush," she instructed with a roll of her eyes. "I'm just gonna answer it so they'll go-…"

Joker sat up, frowning as Jayde opened the door, only to stand there in the way, her eyes wide, her jaw hanging slightly slack as though she had just stumbled onto a ghost. The open doorway was spilling bright sunlight into the house, although the front of Jayde's body was bathed in shadow as someone fairly tall clearly stood beyond the threshold. Joker rolled his eyes; it was probably one of the cops he had been in contact with lately and Jayde was merely panicking, thinking they had been discovered.

"Jayde," He grumbled, pushing himself up from the couch with a groan, to walk toward the door, frowning at her astonished side profile as he approached. "Don't just stand th-.."

Words failed Joker as he reached the doorway and turned his head, only for his insides to disappear and his heart to stop beating. A young but dramatically aged black man stood on the front porch, his familiar goofy, silver-toothed smile plastered to his heavily scarred face...

It was Tre.

"Ay, dog.." he said, taking a half step forward, and he had obviously been about to go on but Joker interrupted.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

At this, both brothers practically launched themselves at each other, to embrace in a tight, very masculine but incredibly relieved and joyful hug, completely abandoning the need to appear as cool, calm and collected as possible. From somewhere beside them, Joker could hear Jayde sniffling with happy tears but he ignored her, throwing all of his focus and energy into not tearing up in his own display of weak emotion. Tre was laughing, clapping him on the shoulder as Joker took a step back, shaking his head as he cleared his throat.

"You grimy-ass son of a bitch," Joker growled, grinning so hard, he could practically feel his scars tickling his ears. Tre laughed again, leaning down to hug Jayde when she stepped forward, still sniffling.

"Yeah, bruh, I'm happy to see you too," He answered sarcastically, adding his own smile to the other two ecstatic faces in the room. The door shut behind him but Joker did not really feel like he could move to go sit or do anything, somewhat fearful that if he were to lose sight of Tre, he might disappear. Joker tossed his hands.

"I thought you were dead!" he nearly shouted, surprised by the lack of anger he felt and the overwhelming sensation of relief that had spread throughout his body and soul. "What the fuck happened?"

At this, Tre took a few steps into the house, glancing around, but obviously wanted to wait to mention the redecorating until after he had said something else. "Well, ay, I'll tell ya 'bout it, but Imma need a big, fat blunt, ya feel me? It's been a long-ass time since I toked."

Joker took off into his bedroom, somewhat ashamed of himself when he noticed his hands shaking. The past month of his life, the past six weeks of horrible, aching misery had been completely in vain and he honestly felt like a complete idiot for just assuming Tre had been killed in the explosion and abandoning him at ground zero. It almost seemed too good to be true, and for some reason or another, Joker felt as though he would not have been surprised to return to the living room to find that the hallucination of Tre would have dissipated. But as he rounded the corner with a blunt in hand, he sighed quietly under his breath when he found Tre standing there near the kitchen table, grinning and talking with Jayde. From the way they both silenced upon his return, Joker assumed she had just been recounting the past six weeks and how miserable and insufferable he had been following Tre's supposed death. Normally, this would have bothered him but at the moment, Joker felt as though nothing could bring him down.

As he followed Tre and Jayde to the table, Joker let out a 'tsk', glancing from the blunt in his hand to Tre's scarred and partially reconstructed face a few times with a falsely reluctant expression.

"Ya know…I was _kinda _saving this for a…special occasion…" Joker growled, cringing somewhat apologetically as Jayde laughed and Tre rolled his eyes.

"Man, light that shit up."

With the blunt lit and immediately started into rotation, Joker watched, holding the smoke in his lungs as he studied the heavy scarring across Tre's forehead and eye, making his left eyelid seem droopier than it had been before. His left cheek seemed slightly sunken and wrinkled from where Joker assumed he had been most heavily burned. Joker shook his head with a laugh as Tre passed the blunt to Jayde.

"Damn, you look like _shit." _

Across the table, Jayde rolled her eyes and Tre tossed his hands, leaning back in the chair to tilt his head back and blow a long stream of smoke into the air. He let out a short cough before he blinked heavily a few times.

"Yeah, dog, after six surgeries and more than twenty skin grafts, you would too…bitch." Tre replied, cocking his head to the side, but from the way his eyes sparkled and the corner of his unscarred lips turned up, Joker could tell he was not mad at his comment and instead, felt just as relieved that he was finally home. "But yeah, when I went across to 'dat house, I knelt down on the otha' side of they car and was just about past it when that shit went up." He started to explain, pausing in his story to reach out and take the blunt from Joker again. "I guess the car kept most of the fallout from hitting me but I got knocked out an' when I woke up like a week later, I was in the hospital."

Jayde's eyes had grown wide and somewhat terrified as though this particular instance had only happened a few moments ago and after Joker had glanced at her to roll his eyes with a grin, he turned back to Tre, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.

"So I'm betting after they found you, they put you in a medically induced coma or some shit since your burns were so bad, right?" he asked, his interest taking a serious hike in wondering how they had treated such horrible injuries. Of course, Tre merely shrugged, taking a hit of the blunt before pulling it away from his mouth to glance at it.

"Somethin' like that," he answered in a highly unsatisfying way. "Alls I know…is that shit hurt like a _mother fucker…_ Now I got all these nasty-ass scars n' shit..." his voice trailed off, obviously feeling as though his ranting about the unpleasantness of his disfigurement might be taken the wrong way by his present company. While Jayde smiled understandingly, Joker nodded, baring his teeth in a grin.

"Join the club, ugly."

After Jayde had excused herself to take a shower and get dressed, Joker and Tre finished the rest of the blunt before standing from the table, to walk back into the living room where Tre now stood, looking around at the new and improved interior of the house. He nodded approvingly, his hands on his narrow hips.

"Yeah, bruh, I like it," he said, glancing at the floor to run his foot across it. "Didn't really expect you to go through wit' it though, seein' how-" Tre had been in the middle of explaining something or other, but at the moment, Joker was not listening and was instead frowning slightly at the long bundle of thin, brown dreadlocks at the back of his best friend's head. If more than forty percent of his body had been burned, how was it possible that he still had a full head of hair? He had been growing those locks since he turned twelve and although he had gotten them twisted and trimmed occasionally, Joker knew Tre never intended to shave his head completely…_ever. _So how was it that he still had all his hair, even after six surgeries and numerous, incredibly painful skin grafts? All this he was wondering, but as Tre finished speaking, Joker decided quickly that he really didn't care. Mysteries were not something that bothered him and seeing how it was already somewhat incredible that his best friend and brother was even standing there in that house, alive, he figured that he might as well not waste any time trying to figure things out completely. All that mattered was that Tre was very much alive and that he would stay that way for the next thirty to forty years. Joker ventured a guess as to what an appropriate response would be to whatever Tre had been saying.

"Well, ya know, Dotcom has fag friends in just about every state in the country so I asked him to give the Chicago queers a ring for me," he explained, motioning at the inside of the house. "They did all this in about two days while I was in New York."

Immediately after these words had left his mouth, Joker suppressed a cringe with great difficulty when he felt Tre's expression change into a confused frown as he turned to face him from admiring the new flat screen TV.

"New York?" he asked. "What you went there for?"

While Joker had been expecting this to come up at some point and had predicted that he would eventually have to let Tre in on how poorly he had been treating Jayde after his supposed death, he felt that the details really were fairly irrelevant. Plus, seeing how Jayde had just stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed with a smile, Joker shrugged, throwing his own grin her way as she walked toward them.

"It's a long story…" he murmured, holding out his arm for Jayde to slide beneath it and wrap her own arm behind his back. Tre nodded an understanding, clearly picking up the hint that Joker was not yet ready to talk about the past six weeks in detail. But from the way Tre was now looking at the two of them, smirking coyly as he watched the way Jayde rested her head against Joker's shoulder and the way his best friend didn't seem to mind being affectionate in front of him, he felt the time may be well overdue for a little mocking. He grunted a laugh, folding his scarred arms over his chest.

"Well, I'm a little surprised ya two haven't tied tha' knot yet," he commented rather snidely, his grin expanding when Jayde laughed and Joker rolled his eyes, pulling his arm from around her shoulder to slide his hands into his pockets somewhat sheepishly.

"It's only been six weeks, remember?" Joker replied, arching his eyebrow at Tre as he turned away toward the kitchen and he blinked. _Why did I say that?_ Awkwardness descended heavily over Joker and he cleared his throat, turning back to face them but only to groan inwardly when he saw Jayde's surprised, foolishly hopeful expression and the knowing, smartass grin on Tre's face…_Oh great.._

Jayde seemed to sense from the obvious expression of discomfort on Joker's face that he was feeling supremely uncomfortable with what he had just said so she stepped forward, walking past him into the kitchen.

"I'm sure you guys are starving," she said over her shoulder at the fridge. "Should I make something for breakfast?"

Both guys nodded but as Tre walked past the kitchen and over to his closed bedroom door, Joker pulled out his phone and followed. He found Tre standing in front of his closet, frowning at the slim selection of clothes.

"I'm gonna call Tiny and D-boy," Joker explained, looking down at the screen to search through the numbers for the one belonging to Darryl. "I'm sure they-.."

"Wha'd you do wit' all my clothes?" Tre interrupted, turning to face Joker with an innocently inquisitive expression on his scarred face. Joker shrugged, his eyes darting to the left and right quickly before they focused again on Tre's.

"Uh…" he growled. "I think we left them in Gotham? Or…Dotcom threw them out or-…" Joker had started to explain, but once again, Tre cut over him, tossing his hands.

"Threw them _out?" _ he asked rather loudly but Joker shrugged again, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes. Threw them out," Joker explained, his tone of voice lowered and soft, as though speaking to a particularly dull child. "Remember, we thought you were _dead_…And _I _certainly wasn't about to wear any of your black guy clothes so…"At this, Joker's lips parted into a snide grin and as Tre rolled his eyes, Joker laughed, tossing his arms. "What?"

"You're a dick, bro.." he grumbled, walking past Joker back out into the kitchen. "I'm just gonna have to wear some of your _white boy _clothes 'til I can go get some of my own."

"Fine! Just try not to stretch the jeans out with that giant, black ass of yours!" Joker called after him, letting out a cackle of a laugh when Tre held up a middle finger over his shoulder as he rounded the corner to the living room. At the stove, Jayde was shaking her head, grinning to herself so Joker walked over to her, placing his hands on either side of her to lean down and rest his chin on her shoulder.

"You glad he's here?" she asked, turning her head slightly to glance up at his eyes but Joker stood to his full height, to turn and rest against the counter beside her. He furrowed his eyebrows as he stared down at her.

"What do _you _think…?" Joker answered as he folded his arms over his chest, honestly feeling hugely relieved that Jayde had not chosen to ask him about what he had said a few minutes earlier. He still could not figure out why he had said it… Next to him, Jayde was smiling, taking a half step toward him to rest her hand on his forearm.

"I'm glad too, baby," she cooed, quickly rising onto her toes to kiss him lightly on the chin. "I know you missed him."

Joker grunted a reply, rolling his eyes again. "Just don't tell him that…" he grumbled. "He's already milking this 'miraculous return' thing for all it's worth…"

Jayde laughed, but as Tre walked into the kitchen, they both looked over, to take in his new change in outfit, from a pair of khaki pants and a loaned, button-down shirt to one of Joker's pairs of worn jeans and long-sleeved thermal shirts. From the slight cringe on his face, it was clear he was uncomfortable with how tight the material was across his chest. He plucked at the warm, black fabric in an effort to stretch it out a bit.

"Damn, bruh, I don't know how you wear this tight-ass shit.." he grumbled, stepping forward to take a seat opposite the Joker at the worn, wooden table. With a falsely offended tut, Joker folded his arms across his chest, scowling at Tre.

"Well, it's not my fault you can't fit your boobs in my clothes," he answered swiftly with his nose pushed into the air. "I'm sure Jayde will let you borrow a bra if you think you'd be more comfortable.."

At this, the frown on Tre's face completely faded into an entirely blank, annoyed expression while Joker's grin broadened into foolish proportions; he had so missed these interactions with his best friend. Across from him, Tre sighed quietly through his nose, shaking his head slowly back and forth.

"It's real good to know you din' change, mah' nigga." He eventually stated, his blank stare finally breaking into a tiny smirk when Joker shook his head back and forth adamantly, his green waves whipping him in the face.

"Never."

The rest of the afternoon passed at a perfect pace, in Joker's opinion, and he could not think of one thing that could make him any happier…besides maybe blowing up a bank or…hospital. He had his best friend back, alive and healthy, he had who he now officially considered _his _girl right by his side and after Tiny and D-boy arrived, all the stankest, dankest weed he could ever hope to smoke. Truthfully, he still had many questions he wanted to ask Tre concerning his escape from almost certain death, like how the surgeons had managed to preserve his hair or how he had avoided a probable life sentence after being discovered wearing camouflage and black in the Gordon's destroyed front yard, but all of this he felt was totally superfluous. He was one-hundred percent happy and content, for what felt like the first time in years. Yes, he had been in much better spirits since returning from New York with Jayde, but his heart had still bore a heavy, rather sinking sensation, like a chunk of it had been removed against his will. Normally, he liked to pride himself on his uncanny ability to not give a _fuck _about anything or anyone…but over the years, he had grown rather attached to Tre. Joker did not believe in miracles, god, or any other sort of fictional idea of the like, but he could not help but feel like Tre returning to Chicago and to his life was nothing short of purely miraculous. It truly felt too good to be true.

After a perfect dinner and after Tiny and Darryl had left with promises that they would return the next day, Joker and Tre retreated to the chilly garage, both with a cigarette, and both leaned against the work bench, as though nothing had ever happened to separate them. Joker took a deep drag of his cigarette, exhaling a moment later with a deep groan as he noticed how much better and more satisfying his high felt when Tre was around. Beside him, Tre seemed to be contemplating something and as he exhaled his smoke, he glanced over; Joker could sense that he was about to be asked a question.

"How'd you do it, bro?" he asked in a very vague and somewhat quiet manner, as though he had been waiting most of the day to ask this and despite the uncanny ability they shared to practically read each other's minds, Joker currently had no idea what Tre was talking about. He glanced over, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Do what?" he asked somewhat confusedly. A smirk broke his puzzled expression a moment later. "Maintained my girlish figure?" he went on, laughing when Tre rolled his eyes.

"Nah, man…" he grumbled in reply, shaking his head as he looked away. "Neva'mind. It doesn't matter…"

It was obvious from the way Tre's eyes had just dropped to the floor of the garage that he had been struggling with something, clearly something that had been bothering him for some time now so Joker pushed on, turning slightly to face him more fully.

"No, what?" he prodded, glancing down to tap a bit of ash from the end of his cigarette into the tray. Tre shrugged, placing his half-finished cigarette between his lips to hold it in place while he released the bundle of dreadlocks from the back of his neck so they fell down his back and over his shoulders. Clearly, whatever he wanted to ask was making him feel awkward which would have normally made Joker even more keen for him to spit it out, so the mocking could begin, but the longer Tre stalled, the more Joker realized that whatever it was, he could not give a sarcastic answer. It had been so long since they had seen each other; Joker was not looking to fully aggravate his best friend…yet.

"How did you handle all them people starin' at your face after you got your scars?" he finally asked, doing everything in his power to avoid looking at Joker directly. Again, he shrugged, finally taking his cigarette down from his mouth to hold it between his fingers. "Everywhere I been since I got outta the hospital in Gotham, people been starin' at me an'…"

At this, Joker cut in, tightening his lips to refrain from completely grinning and making Tre feel even more awkward than he already did.

"You get used to it," he eventually answered, his eyes drifting out to the dark driveway as he reminisced on all the times he had shamelessly lashed out at the innocent bystanders that had been caught staring at the partially healed, deep cuts on his face. "But after a while, you start to like it, once you realize that you have something that separates you from the masses of…normal, boring people. It's much easier for us to be extraordinary than it is for most, so start considering yourself lucky…" Joker paused, feeling a bit of his own brand of awkwardness start to overtake him. Tre seemed to notice but did not look over. "Because you _are _lucky…to be alive."

"Yeah, except that I'm not." Tre answered, his voice somewhat distant and almost fuzzy as though Joker's eardrums had just popped. Joker swallowed hard on the random lump that had jumped into his throat; why did he suddenly feel like he was crying?

"You're not…lucky?" he asked hesitantly, turning his head to look at Tre, only to let out a cry of shock. Tre's healed and heavily scarred face had changed, into something that no longer remotely looked like a face and pieces of flayed skin and burned flesh hung from his bones, his eyes now missing, forming black holes in his skull that seemed to grow larger as he stared soullessly back at him.

"I'm not alive, Kieron."

A loud shout of panic escaped Joker as he woke with an abrupt and violent start, his shoulders lurching up off the bed as he gasped. His entire body was shivering aggressively although he felt hotter and more sweaty than he ever had in his life. His heart was banging relentlessly against the inside of his chest, making him feel lightheaded and disoriented and as a small hand came to rest on his chest, another startled shout left him as he sat up.

"Joker…" came Jayde's soft voice from somewhere beside him. "Joker, it was just a dream." She cooed.

At some point, he had started crying in his sleep and as crushing reality came pouring down on him, a loud sob wracked his chest, forcing his face into his hands as he bawled, rocking forward slightly as Jayde moved to her knees beside him, wrapping her arms around his trembling shoulders.

"Shh…" she whispered, tightening her grip to practically cradle his upper body against her chest. "Joker, you're alright, I'm right here."

It could have been the fact that he was still partially asleep, or the fact that he had never experienced a more vivid, realistic and yet horrible dream in his life, but despite himself, Joker reached out, wrapping his hands around Jayde's arm to hold her as close to him as he could, burying his face into her shoulder, his sobs leaving him in heavy gasps now. Overwhelming nausea started to stir itself up inside of him but Joker took several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself, knowing it would only serve make matters so much worse if he were to be sick. But the nausea was not the only somewhat familiar sensation he was currently feeling; that ache in his chest, the ache that had been cured upon reaching Jayde in New York and allowing his emotions to run rampant had returned, making his chest feel tight and as he sat there, practically curled up against Jayde, he could feel his heart pounding painfully away inside of him, as though it had begun to beat every organ and muscle near it with a small baseball bat.

Starkly contrasting to his current state, Jayde was silent above him. She was not sniffling or making any sound at all, which, as Joker noticed vaguely as his tears slowed, was actually exactly what he needed from her. She was no longer speaking, nor trying to comfort him with soft spoken words and was instead, consoling him in silence, gently stroking the damp hair from the side of his face against her shoulder. It seemed she did not care what he had been dreaming about. It seemed, to her, it did not matter in the slightest and as Joker finally lay back down, feeling weak and exhausted, he felt he could not begin to tell her how much that meant to him. He was not anywhere _near _ready to tell her about his…_nightmare_ and, at the moment, did not think he ever would be.

From her place beside him, Jayde looked down over Joker's upper body as he lay on his back, watching through the darkness as his chest rose and fell heavily and how the muscles along his shoulders and the ends of his hair trembled slightly. It was perfectly clear that whatever he had been dreaming out had really shaken him and with her best guess, Jayde could figure it had been something to do with Tre. Several times since they had left Gotham, she had been startled awake by the sound of Joker gasping to consciousness from a dead sleep and she had always just assumed he had been reliving that particular instance when the house across the street had gone up in a giant plume of fire. However, this night, things had been very different. They had not done anything out of the ordinary before falling asleep, he had not smoked or drank or done anything that would cause such a clearly horrific dream and yet the apparent nightmare Joker had just experienced had been enough to not only wake him but cause him to cry, hard, in his sleep…She did not even want to consider what he had been dreaming about that night.

For nearly an hour after Joker had woken her with his shout of panic, Jayde sat there beside him in complete silence as he struggled to fall back into sleep, gently stroking his now greasy hair away from his forehead and neck. Several minutes would go by, wherein Joker's eyes would be closed, she would think he was finally asleep and would be considering laying back down herself, when his eyes would fly back open, to stare up at the ceiling above them, his gaze restless and uneasy. Each time this happened, she would reach out again, resting one of her hands on his chest in solace while the other would rest gently across his forehead, stroking his hairline with her thumb, lightly.

After this same pattern had repeated itself for what seemed like the one hundredth time, Jayde's jaw dropped in a sleepy yawn, just as Joker's eyes were sliding back open and as he sat up, she pulled her hands back quickly, thinking she had accidentally angered him by continuing to touch him. However, instead of pushing her away or snapping at her, Joker swung his legs over the edge of the bed, turning his back to her to lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees, burying his face into his hands. A heavy breath moved his back and shoulders and Jayde watched his curved spine apprehensively. She wasn't sure if she ought to speak first.

"I didn't mean to wake you up…" he eventually grumbled, his voice low and more raspy than usual from the crying he had done an hour prior. Jayde sighed, reaching out bravely to rest her hand against his back.

"I know you didn't," she answered softly. "It's fine. Don't worr-.." she had been about to go on and tell him that she would rather have been woken up then to find him in tears, than wake up later that morning to an empty bed and a grouchy, inexplicably moody Joker, but he interrupted, shaking his head.

"Go back to sleep," he instructed, his tone firm but not harsh. From the silence behind him, he seemed to sense that Jayde was feeling slightly taken back by his sudden mood, so he went on, his voice a bit less insistent. "I don't think I'll be able to go back to sleep so I'm gonna…go outside or…read or…somethin', I don't know." At this, Jayde sighed, inching forward to rest both hands on his broad shoulders from behind him.

"Joker…" she started, but again, he cut over her, rising abruptly from the bed as he shook his head.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," he stated, turning to look down at her as she sat knelt on the bed in front of him. "I'm not leaving, I just gotta…" He never did say what he had to do, but fortunately, Jayde understood and nodded somewhat sadly, sinking back down onto her ankles from her knees. Above her, Joker tsked. "_Don't worry._" He instructed again, more firmly. "I'm fine." He then lied.

After he had left her with a reluctant, quick kiss, Jayde watched his lean, lanky figure slide from the room, pausing momentarily to partially close the door behind him. It hurt her heart more than just about anything to see him upset like this, especially when he had always been the type to shove his emotions away, make them practically nonexistent, to leave himself with a happy-go-lucky, albeit obnoxious personality, something she had been seeing a bit more of again recently. However, this dream, whatever it had been about, had clearly knocked him back down a bit, which could only leave Jayde with a dreading, almost fearful sensation floating about her body. If he were to revert back to the way he had been before she left, there was no telling how she would react, no matter how bad she felt for him or how much she loved him.

As she lay back down on her side, facing the now empty left side of the bed, she sighed through her nose, reaching out slowly to rest her hand over the dent in the bed where Joker had just been laying. That day, after a few more hours of sleep, would be the final, most difficult test of Joker's resolve and the new, respectful attitude he had developed around her. She prayed with everything she had that he would pass..

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A/N: SOOOOO sorry about the wait! I got all caught up in the Christmas spirit and put off this chapter and for that, I am sorry. But anyways, I know it was a short one, but there was really nothing else I wanted to add to this one, I felt there was enough emotional roller-coastering in this one that it did not need much else to get the point across. By the way, if you plan on leaving a review, please dont give anything away about the premise of this chapter to those who have not read it yet. Anyshmoo, as my homies from Facebook already know, I've decided to put this story on a bit of a hiatus so I can write a Christmas JnJ one-shot. YAY! It is called 'How the Joker Stole Christmas' and it will be posted on Christmas Eve. If you don't celebrate Christmas, I respect that, but just know, this one-shot will be Christmas themed, fluffy and funny. So I hope you look forward to reading it as much as I look forward to writing it. A Matter of Time will pick back up after the new year and have no fear, I WILL BE picking it back up. I just wanted to take a quick break to write this one-shot that I've had planned since like September haha SO LEAVE ME A REVIEW! And I'll see youuuu soooon….-QoM (add me on Facebook. Haven QueenofMean Hunter)

…_Slay bells ring, are ya listenin'?...In the lane, blood is glistenin'…_


	22. Never Leave Angry

It was rather surprising to Jayde, over the next several days, how well Joker was coping after his traumatic and unexpected nightmare. The morning following the incident, he gave no outward sign that anything out of the ordinary had happened, although he did manage to sleep later than she had ever seen. It had been nearing noon that afternoon when he had coming slinking from the bedroom, trudging toward the kitchen where she had been cleaning up from her pancake endeavor. Jayde could remember arguing with herself all morning over whether or not it would be a life-threateningly bad idea to ask him what his dream had been about and she had just been defending her own point that he had been behaving much more patiently over the past few days when he had sunk down into his usual chair at the carved table, pulling the newspaper toward him. Jayde could clearly remember the sinking sensation she felt when she mindlessly walked over to sit down across from him.

"Morning." he had greeted her, his voice flat and raspy with sleepiness, his heavy eyes already drifting along the newspaper before him. "Did you sleep-..." he had seemingly been about to go on and ask in his own special way if she had slept well, but seemed to think better of it as his voice trailed off into a growl, his elbow moving to rest on the table before him. Jayde still wasn't sure what had come over her when the following words came spilling, unhindered, from her mouth.

"What did you dream about?"

The way Joker's eyes slid upward from the paper, blinking slowly on their way to meeting hers, made Jayde feel as though she were about to faint. She could remember hastily standing from the table, as if hoping Joker had not heard her ask him a question but his gaze had followed her across the kitchen until she stopped at the sink.

"I don't-..." he started, pausing to clear his throat and Jayde could have sworn he was mere seconds from going on to bitingly continue with '-see how that's any of your fucking business.' Quickly, Jayde turned to face him, hoping the expression on her face would warn him not to take a hostile tone with her. However, instead of finding that painfully familiar look of anger on the Joker's face, she found him shaking his head quickly with his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes closed. They had opened a moment later to glance over at her, but only to look down to the newspaper again as though maintaining eye contact with her physically hurt him in some way. After a few intense seconds, he opened his mouth.

"I don't really want to talk about it."

These words had caught Jayde so off-guard, he probably could have explained his deep affection for Barbie dolls and her reaction would have been nearly the same. But as she stood there silently staring at his lowered, shaggy green head, with her jaw hanging slack, the seconds ticked on and Joker seemed to be growing more and more anxious the longer she stood there. His eyebrows raised somewhat sheepishly as he glanced up from the newspaper.

"Is...that ok?" he had asked a few moments later, his eyes shifting awkwardly back and forth between the paper and Jayde's stunned face a few times.

It was clear he had been wondering if he had said the right thing, if he had been nice enough in his reply but as a silly, highly relieved grin began to spread it's way across Jayde's face, he sighed, rolling his eyes as he went back to the paper. As she approached him, that grin expanded when he raised his right elbow and leaned to the side, jokingly warding off the affection he knew was coming, however Jayde's lips collided heavily with his cheek a moment later, regardless of his attempts. Her kiss made a loud smacking noise as she pulled away, lightly scratching the back of his head with her nails.

"I loveyou..." she had purred, leaning down once again as he finally tilted his head back to look up at her and her lips met his gently. To her surprise, he had returned the affection, but only briefly before he pulled away, growling a 'mm-hm' as he went back to the paper.

Since that morning, life at the house on the corner of Lincoln and Platt had gone on as uneventfully it had been recently, with both Joker and Jayde going about their days as though nothing extraordinary had happened and despite one small, playful bicker over whether Jayde should _really _have to do _all _the laundry herself, they had not so much as raised their voices at each other once. Of course, at some point nearly every day, Jayde could expect a phone call from Dotcom, asking if she was being treated right and if Joker had been behaving himself and every day, she would smile and inform him that he had been a perfect gentleman...despite some less than gentle behavior in the bedroom...She always spared Dotcom those details but could not help but stifle a giggle with great difficulty when she caught Joker smirking to himself for no apparent reason the next morning.

During the week following that fateful night, Charlie had contacted Jayde several times, either by text or by phone call and each time, Jayde answered relatively quickly, rolling her eyes when Joker shouted 'THAT YOUR BOYFRIEND?' from no matter where he was in the house. Jayde would always reply 'why would you be calling me?' only to receive a '...gross...' in return. The first text from Charlie was to ask if she would like to go out for lunch.

"_Hey, you wanna meet up for lunch?" _he had messaged her.

"_Sure! Where?" _she had answered a few minutes later.

"_How about that cafe up the street from Martin's?" _

The conversation had gone on for a little bit, texting back and forth about what time they should meet and so on, and after deciding that they should meet at one o'clock, Jayde had jumped up from her place on the patio chair to go inside, but paused halfway through the door as her phone dinged again. Her heart dropped when she read the next message.

"_You should bring your boyfriend. I'd like to meet him. : )" _

Her answer was obviously a swift and resounding no, but if she were to just type back instantly and say that, she figured it would raise all sorts of alarm bells in Charlie's mind. Thanks to Joker, he had already seen more than he should have the last time they met for coffee, which left Jayde with twice as much work in order to keep Charlie unaware of just who her boyfriend really happened to be. So instead of typing back 'NO!', she took her time and wrote back explaining that he was at work all day and would not be home until later that evening.

Upon reaching the small cafe, just up the street from Martin's coffee shop, Jayde had smiled when her eyes found the back of Charlie's newly spiky black hair and he turned to look toward the doors, as if he had felt her approaching. A grin formed his thin mouth into a mere slit in his face as he brought up his hand to wave at her and Jayde would have returned the gesture but was already within speaking range.

"Hey!" she greeted him with a genuinely excited demeanor. It really was nice to get out of the house and talk for a while; Charlie seemed to understand this and possibly even felt the same way. Whenever he spotted Jayde, she always noticed him let out a nearly unnoticeable sigh as though relieved to see her and Jayde could not blame him. From what he had told her about his brother, he was a downright nasty, drug head of a person who took all of his frustration out on his younger brother and the apartment they shared. Jayde was more than happy to give Charlie and excuse to get out of the house as she _definitely _knew where he was coming from with the whole 'I want to be anywhere but home' sort of situation.

"Hey," Charlie answered, his grin widening as he peered down at her from behind his black, rectangular framed glasses. "I'm starving, aren't you?" he went on to ask, his grin falling into something of a hungry scowl as he pressed his hand to his stomach and Jayde laughed, nodding as they took their place near the back of the line to order.

After standing in line for nearly ten minutes inside the busy cafe and after quietly laughing at two old ladies struggling to read the admittedly large print on the menu behind the counter, they were finally sitting down outside with their sandwiches, both agreeing to deal with the cold in order to escape the crowded, noisy confines of the restaurant. Charlie was the first to take a bite but waited until he had finished chewing to begin speaking. His eyes glanced over at Jayde but he looked back down a moment later, fidgeting idly with his napkin.

"It's a shame your boyfriend couldn't come..." he started, once again glancing up as if to gauge the reaction on Jayde's face. When she shrugged with a half-roll of her eyes, he frowned. "Why don't you want me to meet him?" he asked, his voice carrying a hint of true confusion and maybe a bit of hidden suspicion as he watched Jayde take a sip of her water. She shrugged as she set her cup back down.

"It's not that I don't want you to meet him, it's just..." She began to explain but paused, her eyebrows furrowing as she contemplated the remained her of answer. How could she best put this without giving away the fact that her boyfriend would likely kill him if he were given the chance? "He works a lot and-...he's just..." She paused again here, exhaling in a heavy sigh as she finally lifted her eyes to look over at Charlie. "He's not the friendliest..guy..."

At this, Charlie nodded an understanding and moved to pick up his sandwich but paused, arching an eyebrow as he looked back over to Jayde again.

"Where did you say he works?" he asked, once again forcing a heavy ball of lead down into the pit of Jayde's stomach; why didn't she think to come up with an answer to this before she got there? She knew she had never told Charlie where 'Kieron' worked and knew that he had only worded his question like this in order to prevent himself from sounding too prying. With a quiet cough, Jayde picked up her water again and took a sip, giving herself a few last seconds to try and come up with something.

"He um-...he's a marketing consultant with some advertising company out of Cicero," she answered once she had set her cup of water back down. Using her her fingernails, she picked a small crumb of bread from the edge of her plate as though it had been bothering her, purely to avoid looking over at Charlie and possibly giving anything away with her eyes. It was obvious he had developed a wee bit of a suspicion over her mysterious boyfriend which Jayde could only assume had been caused by Joker's more than conspicuous appearance the week before at the coffee shop, of course _right after _he had chosen to dye his hair green again. Fortunately however, Jayde had learned since meeting Charlie that he was a fairly gullible guy and that she was an extraordinarily good liar when she really needed to be.

The rest of their lunch 'date' went fairly smoothly although Charlie did manage to ask just about every question about her boyfriend that he could think up which left Jayde with such a surprising amount of thinking on her feet, that by the time they were parting ways down at the street, she would not have been surprised if she completely forgot how to tell the truth in the first place.

Upon returning to the house and stepping inside, Jayde's eyes instantly spotted Joker's long, lanky body spread out along the couch, his brightly colored, socked feet rested comfortably down at the very far end, so she immediately walked over with a heavy sigh, tossing the keys to the Escalade onto the kitchen table. She smiled when Joker's eyes slid over to hers from the tv and he grunted a moment later when she took a heavy seat between his ankles at the end of the couch. He licked his lips, smacking them slightly as he arched an eyebrow over at the tv.

"Have a nice _date_?" he asked in a low growl, his emphasis heavy on the 't'. The very corners of his lips turned up when he heard Jayde scoff from down by his mismatched, socked feet.

"_Yes..._" she answered testily with a quick fold of her arms, her own eyes now fixed on the movie playing on the flat screen across from them. From the other end of the couch, there was a long pause where she could feel his gaze burning holes into the side of her face and her lips tightened across her teeth, trying hard not to grin as Joker pouted.

"...Did you put out?"

"_NO!" _Jayde suddenly cried, turning her head to scowl at him as her hand swung out to slap him hard on the soft inside of his thigh and Joker jumped with a loud laugh, reaching down with instinctive swiftness to prevent her hand from slapping too close to his most prized possessions. "_God, _Joker..." she then added with false irritation, rolling her eyes as she wrenched her hand away from his grip, but only to forcefully keep her lips from curving upward when Joker suddenly sat up and spun on the couch to replace his foot in her lap with his head. He adjusted to get comfortable at the contact, turning his gaze to once again focus on the tv.

"_Well _then..." he started a second later, quickly glancing up at Jayde as she forced herself not to look down at him. "In _that _case, I hope you didn't make him pay."

With a squeal, Jayde pushed him hard until he fell off the couch and landed on the rug before them with a thud, howling with laughter as she followed him and began slapping every area she could reach.

As much as Jayde liked to step back and admire how well they had been getting along, how that respect Joker had developed for her seemed to be lasting, there was one small aspect of their relationship that seemed to be lacking, one area Jayde could not overlook. The first time Jayde had said 'I love you' to him, the words had been so difficult to get out, her mouth might as well have been filled with sand or nails but since then, she had said it several more times and it became easier and easier until she could say it without even so much as a second thought; it was just natural to her now. But every time those three words came out, Joker seemed to stiffen and always had a different response according to what situation and setting they were in. If she said it right before they were about to fall asleep, he would suddenly fall deaf and feign sleep like a three year old. If she said it first thing in the morning, before either of them had gotten out of bed, Joker would open his mouth wide in an unnecessarily long yawn that seemed to take _just _enough time to where Jayde's mind would move on to something else before he would be forced to answer. However, if she caught him at the right time, when nothing else was going on, when his attention was on her completely and there was literally nothing else to distract him, he would simply reply 'I know' or play it off like she hadn't been serious. He would roll his eyes and give her a jokingly nonchalant 'Yeah, yeah...' as though he had grown tired of hearing it. Never once had he even given a hint that he felt the same way, nor gave any indication with his eyes or body language that he was moments from saying it back to her...and each time left Jayde a bit more disappointed than the last.

She did suppose it was somewhat unfair of her to suddenly expect this back from him when in the past, she had been perfectly fine with not hearing those words come out of his mouth. It was understandable that it would make him uncomfortable on the highest level, seeing how it was fairly difficult for him to show her unhindered affection as it was but still Jayde could not help but wish wildly that he would surprise her to death one day and just say 'I love you too'. Then again...what if he really didn't feel that way? What if the reason he had not said it back was that he did not actually feel as strongly for her as she did for him. _That _seemed likely...

Jayde wanted to talk to someone about this, but Charlie was completely and entirely out of the question, seeing how he was already skeptical as it was about her boyfriends devotion and it was likely that Dotcom would just say that she should not be surprised that he would not say it back. Audrey had not called or texted Jayde in quite some time since she was in college up in New York and probably had made a whole gaggle of new friends, and seeing how she too had no idea Jayde was in fact living with and 'dating' the Joker, her advice would be no where near sufficient. So since Dotcom was really her only friend that knew her situation in great detail and without any skewed information, Jayde decided she ought to call him and just ignore anything he said about not expecting any different.

It was Monday and Joker was 'at work', out in Chicago somewhere, taking care of whatever assassination or shady dealings he had been hired to oversee, which left Jayde at the house, floating from room to room, cleaning this and straightening that, pausing once or twice to go switch out a load of laundry or fold a few articles of clothing. If she was being perfectly honest with herself, she absolutely hated what her life at the house had become- cooking and keeping the house clean, like some horribly underpaid maid. While she did love living with Joker and being his little lady, she did wish there was more she could be doing, besides fulfilling her role of domestic housewife...And she wasn't even a _wife. _Although Joker had already made it perfectly clear that she would never need to work an actual job again, she figured it would not hurt to ask him if he could think of something more she could do, besides cleaning his house and purposely mismatching his pairs of clean, brightly colored socks.

After a boring, uneventful morning, Jayde finally slipped out onto front porch for a cigarette, momentarily ignoring a text from Charlie so she could pull up the dial pad screen and tap in Dotcom's phone number. The time was only nearing noon so there was every chance he could be at work slaving over a hot stove but regardless, Jayde held the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she lit her cigarette, mentally crossing her fingers that he would answer. And after three rings, he did, but noise in the background immediately muffled his greeting.

"-Honey!" was all Jayde caught but she smiled anyway and reached to the side, tapping the end of her cigarette over the ashtray. Her mouth had opened to reply but was cut off by Dotcom's surprisingly loud voice cutting over the din in the background. "Don't forget to take the Roast Au Jus out of the oven! It's only got about fifteen left!" Jayde heard him shout clearly to someone over the noise of the kitchen and she grinned, mentally picturing Dotcom wearing a white waist apron, chef's coat and a precious little chef hat perched jauntily atop his mass of carefully maintained red curls. His voice returned to the phone a moment later, this time at a normal level of volume. "Hey, sweetie, sorry. I'm just leaving work. These idiots can't even put together a proper pot-au-feu..." his short rant finished in a heavy sigh as the noise behind him faded, only to be replaced with the low rushing noise of the busy city of New York. Jayde even heard a few car horns off in the distance. "_Anyways..._what's up, sweetie pie?" he asked a few seconds later, his voice now as light, pleasant and gay as always although he paused and became grave again instantly. "Oh, no...Please don't tell me-" he started, but Jayde cut over him, shaking her head as though he were right there and could see her.

"No! No, nothing's wrong, don't worry," she explained with a laugh. "I was just calling to talk to you..."

On the other end of the phone, Dotcom was silent, allowing the distant wailing of an ambulance's siren to break through while he paused, waiting for her to go on. When she did not, he continued. ".._.About._..." At this, Jayde laughed, tossing her cigarette-wielding hand.

"I have to have a reason to want to talk to you?" she cried in mock offense, grinning wildly to herself when she envisioned Dotcom rolling his eyes as he lit a cigarette.

"_Noooo..." _he answered sassily. "But you usually do. So...c'mon, out with it."

Only a few moments prior, Jayde had made up her mind that she was going to talk to him about the issue she was having with Joker's lack of those three small words, but now, as she thought about it, it really was not Dotcom's duty to constantly be giving her advice. What he had just said was true- it seemed like the only times Jayde called him was when she needed to vent about Joker, or complain about Joker, or even to gush about how much she adored Joker. And seeing how Dotcom was already so skeptical about the way Joker had been treating her, Jayde quickly decided to just keep this particular issue to herself. It was time she learned how to work through her own problems with her love life.

"There really is no reason I'm calling!" she lied with a laugh. "I really just wanted to talk to you."

So for the next hour, Jayde and Dotcom sat on the phone with each other, talking and laughing about this and that, about some of the guys he worked with at the restaurant and joking about how Charlie was secretly in love with her. Jayde was just laughing heartily at Dotcom's unfounded theory that maybe Charlie was gay when her ears picked up the sound of a familiar engine growing closer to the house on the Lincoln side, before she heard the motor slow and the heavy bouncing, squeaking of tires as a seemingly large vehicle pulled into the driveway on the other side of the house. She tired hard to ignore it but the way her heart skipped a few beats in succession pulled a tiny grin onto her face. Dotcom was still speaking but as soon as he paused, she cut in.

"Hey, I hate to go but..." she hesitated as she rose from the chair and Dotcom interrupted.

"He just got home, huh..." he supplied, the tone of his voice indicating that he had started to smile. When Jayde did not reply but instead let out a girly, excited giggle, he went on; she could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "Go see your man, girl. I'll talk to you later."

After hasty goodbyes and after Jayde had quickly put her cigarette out in the ashtray beside her, she turned and threw open the screen door to the front of the house where she paused in the way, a huge, silly smile immediately stretching the scar on her cheek. Across from her, just stepping in through the garage door and into the kitchen was the Joker, in all his tall, lean, masculine glory, looking as handsome as ever as he dropped the keys to the Escalade onto the carved wooden table. His eyes met hers from across the house briefly before they flickered quickly up and down her curvy frame. A small smirk lifted the upper corner of his lips a moment later.

"Hi," he greeted her simply, taking one or two steps closer before he stopped, knowing what was coming. Over the last two seconds, Jayde's grin had expanded into a full blown smile and she skipped the last few feet toward him, raising her arms as she did. Whatever issue she had been having earlier disappeared completely as she rose up onto her tiptoes to toss her arms around his broad shoulders.

"Hi," she cooed a reply after pressing a kiss to his scarred cheek and she dropped back down onto her feet to tilt her head back and look straight up at him. "I-..." she went to say but Joker interrupted by leaning down slightly to press his lips against hers.

"-Missed me." he finished her statement for her after he had pulled away and Jayde's grin fell slightly as he took a few steps away from her toward the couch. He paused a moment later to turn his head and look back at her, one eyebrow arched and that smirk still firmly in place. "Wanna know how I know that?" he asked, turning finally to plop down onto the couch with a quiet groan, now raising both of his eyebrows up at her as Jayde walked over, her hands firmly in place on her hips. His chest rose and fell once he realized she was not going to answer and he leaned back on the couch with a heavy sigh. "'Cause I missed you too, kiddo."

At this, Jayde let out one of those silly giggles before she closed the distance and plopped down onto the couch beside him before instantly scooting up close to his side, her mind briefly flashing back to how she used to always debate with herself on whether or not he would want her to be that close to him. Time had caused her to care less and less about whether or not he wanted her affection.

"That doesn't make sense," she purred after a few moments, pulling her head away from where it had been rested on his chest. Beside her, Joker grunted a laugh, reaching up with his right hand to tuck a frizzy curl behind her ear.

"Doesn't have to, precious."

For several minutes, they sat there on the couch together, quietly enjoying the silence in the house and the ambient outside noises of the busy neighborhood around them and Jayde was just about to open her mouth to ask what he had been out doing that morning when a familiar, growling noise met her right ear from against his shoulder. Lifting her head to look up at him, that grin from earlier returned to curl the corners of her lips upward when she noticed that the back of his head had made contact with the couch at some point and he was currently dozing peacefully. As strangely adorable as he looked, with his messy green hair all strewn out along the white material of the couch and as much as Jayde would have liked to kiss him lightly to wake him up, she remembered turning over early that morning when he had gotten out of the bed at nearly a quarter to eight. So she left him alone and stood up as slowly and quietly as she could, privately hoping he would be awake again once she had finished with her shower.

Joker woke with a start as a loud ringing noise from nearby startled him from a dead sleep and a deep scowl wrinkled lines across his forehead as he forced his eyes open into tiny slits, groggily pulling his head up from leaned back against the couch. With a slow lick of his lips, he noticed that his mouth felt dry, which led him to figure that he had been sleeping there with his mouth hanging right open but he sighed in relief once he noticed the lack of Jayde and once his ears had picked up the sound of the shower going beyond the bathroom door. That phone was still ringing from its place on the coffee table.

With a groan, Joker leaned forward, at first, thinking it was his phone but as he felt a weight in his pocket, his eyes widened slightly when he realized that this particular phone belonged to Jayde and that one of only three people she ever talked to was calling now. As he picked up the phone and brought it closer to his face, a sinister grin caused his scars to twitch upward toward his eyebrows. It was Charlie.

"_Helloooo...?" _Joker answered the phone, his voice deep and raspy with rapidly fading sleepiness. There was a long pause on the other end of the call.

"...Jayde?" Came an unfamiliar male voice which caused the hair to raise all along Joker's forearms and on the back of his neck. He rolled his eyes, leaning back against the couch to cross his ankles together against the floor.

"Yeah...-Finally had the operation...I go by _Jake _now..." he replied, lowering his voice dramatically to fit the jyst of his sarcastic joke. There was another long pause on the other end and Joker raised his eyebrows, awaiting Charlie's response.

"...This must be Kieron." he answered a few moments later, his voice now flat and plainly expressing an air of extreme dislike for the boyfriend he had never met. Joker frowned into the phone...Jayde had given Charlie his real name?

"Uh..._yeah, _this is...Kieron..." he growled, making a mental note of it to scold Jayde for giving out his name like that. "What do you want?" he asked rather nastily after a pause. From the way Charlie hesitated, it was clear he was a bit taken back by how rude Jayde's boyfriend was.

"Oh, I um-...I just hadn't talked to her in a few days so I was just calling to say hi," Charlie eventually answered in a relatively polite manner, despite the attitude he was receiving from the other end of the phone call. "Is she around?" he then asked hopefully. Joker's eyes rolled over to the closed door to the bathroom where he could still hear the water running from beyond it.

"Yeah but she's currently naked in the shower so..." Joker explained, his voice now characteristically bouncy and clowny and he grinned when Charlie once again hesitated, apparently having a hard time removing the image of Jayde naked from his mind. Joker then frowned; no one thinks about his girl naked but _him_.

"Oh...well could you have her call me back when she gets a chance?" Charlie asked, his tone once again surprisingly polite which caused Joker to roll his eyes to the ceiling irritably.

"Yeah, you betcha, sport." Joker answered shortly and with that, he pressed his thumb to the red button and tossed the phone back onto the table before he groaned groggily and flopped down onto his back along the couch, almost instantly asleep once again.

The water was perfectly warm and refreshing, carpeting Jayde in goosebumps as she finished rinsing the conditioner from the ends of her hair and vaguely , Jayde thought back on her inner conversation from earlier that morning and she wondered what Dotcom's advice would have been if she had gone on to ask him for it. More than likely, he would have told her that she should not have expected any different from the man who, until recently, practically had to force himself to show her unbridled affection and that she should not be surprised if it took several more years before he even admitted to_ himself _that he felt strongly enough about her to consider it love. There was a fairly strong chance that he did not even know what the sensation of _love _really felt like and therefore would not even be able to identify it if he were to experience it. But as Jayde turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, shivering slightly from the contrasting cold, she wondered if she ought to just talk to him about it. Not _Dotcom, _but Joker. Perhaps she should just bring it up, just to see what his reaction was? But then again, maybe that was not such a good idea, especially if he had just woken up from a nap...

But fifteen minutes later, after dressing in a pair of jeans and a white long sleeved shirt, Jayde stepped back out into the living room, only to pause in the threshold of the hallway, that silly grin from earlier jumping onto her face when her eyes fell onto the Joker. Apparently, at some point during his nap, he had seemingly woken to find himself sitting perfectly upright and had lay down on his back along the couch, his bright, neon orange socked foot tucked beneath his left knee, with one hand rested gently along his slowly rising and falling stomach. His other arm had clearly fallen from the edge of the couch and now hung down to the floor, the very tips of his fingers just rested on the fluffy area rug beneath the coffee table. As much as Jayde truly wished she had a camera to capture him in moments like this, she really could not help herself but to creep over silently and kneel down just next to the couch, her eyes perfectly level with his peaceful, sleeping face.

Joker's head was turned the opposite direction and facing the back cushions of the couch but as she reached out to just barely let her hand rest over his warm, broad chest, he instantly took a deep breath in through his nose and his features wrinkled into a scowl. His nose scrunched up a moment later before he reached up, scratching at an itch on the very end of it. Jayde's grin expanded yet again as he finally turned his head slowly to open one eye and peer over at her. That deep breath he had taken in released slowly in a comfortable, heavy sigh as he brought his hand up to rest over hers in the middle of his chest and his eyes closed again after staring at Jayde for a few seconds.

"Your _boyfriend _called while you were in the shower..." he growled, slowly raising both eyebrows as he mentally pictured the surprised look on Jayde's face just next to his shoulder. However when she did not answer, he turned his head back to look over at her, slowly opening one eye before he sighed, rolling both of them together. "And no, I'm not talking about _me," _he went on to add, shifting his shoulders against the couch with a grunt. "I'm talking about your less handsome, less devilishly charming boyfriend." he then clarified, smirking to himself as Jayde giggled and moved to pull herself up onto the couch, to lay gently atop his recumbent form. She sighed contentedly against his chest once she had gotten comfortable but Joker went on. "...I answered."

At this, Jayde's head flew up from against his chest, her eyes wide as she stared up at him, her eyebrows arching sharply. "You _what?" _she asked although she had clearly heard him and Joker was just about to repeat himself when she shook her head, groaning as she pushed her hand into the front of her damp curls. "Oh, god, Joker..._really _wish you hadn't done that."

"Why not?" he asked, once again shifting his shoulders so he could look down at her more clearly, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but before Jayde could give her answer, he remembered something from the conversation on the phone. "And why did you tell him my name is Kieron?"

"Because your name _is _Kieron," she answered as if he had forgotten and for a second or two, Joker thought she was about to add '_duh' _to the end of her statement. "Plus, I couldn't exactly tell him your name is 'Joker', could I?" she then went on to ask, placing her hand flat in the middle of his chest to rest her chin on the back of it so she could gaze up at him as he sighed.

"Well, _no, _but you didn't have to tell him it's..._Kieron..." _he explained, his face tightening into a cringe as though speaking his own name brought him displeasure. From against his chest, Jayde started to grin before she looked down, using the tip of her fingernail to trace light patterns across his deep green shirt.

"What name would you rather I had given him?" she asked , slowly bringing her gaze back up to stare lovingly at him as his eyes rolled to the ceiling contemplatively. After a few seconds, he looked back down at her.

"Sasquatch." he answered with a decisive nod and he grinned, bringing both of his arms up to wrap around Jayde's shoulders as she laughed, pushing herself up along his chest so her head could rest just below his chin. But as if both had suddenly realized what they truly wanted from one another, Jayde lifted her head and Joker opened his eyes, their gazes meeting somewhere in the middle simultaneously. Fresh from her shower, Jayde was smelling of coconut and looking beautiful as her long, black hair fell over her shoulder and onto his chest and Joker was so busy noticing the way her curls always looked so bouncy and shiny when they were drying that he failed to catch the way she was eying that scar that ran down his bottom lip and onto his chin. A moment later, he looked up to meet her eyes, a slow smirk forming across his lips as he waited patiently for her to give in and lean down.

The seconds ticked by as Joker stared up at Jayde and Jayde down at him and before he could stop himself, he was reaching up with both hands, placing them gently on either side of her face to pull her down until her plush, soft lips met his thinner, scarred ones. A quiet breath of air escaped Jayde against his mouth as he kissed her, as though she had been holding her breath, waiting on tenterhooks for him to do this. Joker fought hard not to grin against her lips, wondering vaguely how many times Charlie had looked at her and imagined what it felt like to kiss her. _Feels pretty damn good..._he thought to himself, finally allowing a small smirk onto his face as Jayde pulled away only slightly.

Her lips brushed lightly against his as she placed another soft kiss there and Joker sighed, tightening his grip against the back of her neck but Jayde resisted, slowly opening her eyes to gaze down at him. _Here it comes..._

"I love you..." she practically whispered, her bright blue eyes bouncing back and forth between Joker's amber browns and that knot, that same tight little ball of nerves he always felt upon hearing these words dropped back down into his stomach. He licked his lips, blinking slowly as Jayde stared down at him somewhat expectantly.

"I know, Jayde." he eventually answered, but watched as that increasingly familiar look of disappointment appeared behind her eyes yet again. She sighed, her gaze dropping to her hand, still rested over the middle of his chest; he hoped dearly she would not notice the way his heart started to bang against the inside of his ribcage. When she looked back up a few seconds later, her gaze flickered up and down between his eyes and lips a few times as though unsure which she wanted to focus on.

"Why wont you say it back to me?" she asked, her voice light and quiet. That knot in the pit of Joker's stomach tightened, causing him to shift uncomfortably as he looked away from her eyes rather awkwardly.

"I dunno," he answered stupidly, holding back a cringe the next moment when the expression on Jayde's face fell quickly into annoyance at his extremely male answer to an admittedly deep question. She blinked several times, her eyebrows starting to form that small wrinkle that appeared between them when she frowned.

"Do you not...love me?" she then asked, sitting up a bit more as Joker sighed, his eyes sliding closed, trying hard to ignore the tickling sensation of irritation that was starting to creep up inside of him.

"I don't _know, _Jayde." he answered sternly, watching closely now with narrowed eyes as a look of supreme hurt appeared on Jayde's face.

"It's a simple question, Joker," she started. "Do you-..." she went on but he cut over her, sitting up from his relaxed position.

"It's _not _ a simple question," he interrupted harshly, his annoyance getting the better of him yet again. "I told you I don't know, so just _drop _it." At this, he stood up, leaving Jayde to sit on the couch, frowning angrily after him as he stalked away to the bedroom, but just when he felt like he might be in the clear and that the conversation had just ended, Jayde followed him, rounding the corner with a swiftness that only came when she was feeling particularly bold.

"If you can't even tell me if you love me or not...There...There's something wrong with that," she told him from the doorway, watching with narrowed glaring eyes as he idly fidgeted with something near the bed, clearly in an effort to keep from having to make eye contact with her. "I mean, you should be able to-..."

"I said DROP IT!" Joker suddenly shouted, that anger now bubbling out of him as he spun to face her, his expression livid as he took a few steps toward her, but Jayde was already backing out of the room, shaking her head as those horribly familiar tears began welling up along the lower lids of her eyes. Instantly, Joker felt himself mildly regretting his rash decision to yell at her, but he held his ground, knowing he would lose all his credit if he were to go chasing after her to apologize...that was until he heard the sound of the car keys being picked up from the kitchen table.

Jayde looked up as Joker came skidding around the corner, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as his eyes glanced from her face to the keys in her hand, down to the flat shoes she had just put on. He tossed his hands a second later, huffing irritably.

"Seriously?" he asked loudly. "You're _leaving _because I just-" he went on but Jayde was shaking her head.

"I just need to get out of here for a little while," she answered in a calm, level voice although Joker could still see those watery tears welling up along her eyes. "Just need to clear my head..."

With another frustrated toss of his arms, Joker turned away, walking back over to the couch to drop down onto it heavily before he looked back over at her, his eyebrows raised. "Fine! Go!" he yelled, absolutely blown away at this point that they had gone from perfectly comfortable just minutes ago, to mad at each other over something so stupid. "I'll see ya when you get back." he then added in a sarcastically dismissive way and from the couch, he watched as Jayde blinked heavily, her nose wrinkling in a bout of stronger tears before she spun and exited through the garage door, slamming it behind her as she went.

As the rumbling Corvette took Jayde along backstreets and down narrow one way lanes, she sniffled hard, blinking furiously, trying with everything she had to stop crying. She wasn't sure how she had not seen it coming, but Joker's reaction to her interrogation had not been anything near what she had been expecting. Sure, she had been ready for a sarcastic answer, maybe a biting comment or two, but she had not been prepared whatsoever for the way he had jumped so quickly into full blown anger. It had been nearly three weeks since she had left the house to drive to New York, nearly three weeks since the last time Joker had raised his voice to her and now, Jayde was being strongly reminded of how much she hated it when he did that.

In her opinion, her questions concerning his emotions toward her had been perfectly justified as she had every right to know whether or not he loved her. However, in retrospect, Jayde was immensely glad she had decided against asking Dotcom for his advice on the situation, seeing how he probably would have very accurately predicted that sort of reaction from the Joker. She was glad there was no one to rub it in her face...not that Dotcom would have done that.

After driving around for over an hour, the time stood at nearly six o'clock in the evening and the sun was well on its way to setting, leaving downtown Chicago bathed in an orangey, yellow glow as the sun cast its remaining rays against the tall buildings. The streets were still fairly busy and as Jayde pulled the Corvette up to a stoplight, she sighed, leaning her head back against the seat behind her. Perhaps she should apologize to Joker when she returned home...Maybe it really had been out of place for her to demand an answer as to why he felt so strongly about not saying those three words to her. A moment later, Jayde sat up straight again, her features mangling themselves back into an angry frown. No. She had every right to ask him those questions and it had been extremely unfair of him to yell at her like that when all she had wanted was an answer.

Then with a jolt, Jayde remembered Joker telling her earlier that Charlie had called while she had been in the shower, so with a slightly relieved sigh, she reached over into the seat beside her and retrieved her phone, glancing from the screen to the stoplight once or twice to make sure it was still red. Sure enough, after pulling up the call log screen, her eyes found Charlie's name just next to a green arrow indicating that he had indeed called and that someone had answered and Jayde rolled her eyes when she noticed that Joker and Charlie's conversation had lasted almost a full forty-five seconds. What on earth had they been talking about?

After pushing her finger to the green button, Jayde held the phone to her ear, placing it momentarily between her shoulder and head to shift the gears once the light turned green. The low, methodical ringing tone sang in her ear but after only a couple of repetitions, a soft clicking noise, then a voice broke through.

"_Please_ tell me this is Jayde..." he grumbled into the phone and for the first time in over an hour, Jayde smiled, laughing quietly.

"I'm_ so _sorry about him, Charlie," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "I don't usually leave my phone around him like that..."

From the other end of the phone, there was a pause.

"Is something wrong?" Charlie then asked a few moments later. "You sound...mad...or sad or something...Are you hurt?" he then went on, his voice raised slightly in what sounded like genuine concern and Jayde frowned. Why would he jump so quickly to thinking she was physically hurt in some way? She shook her head as she turned right onto a side street.

"No, no...I'm fine. I just-..." she paused, sighing into the phone. Maybe she ought to talk to someone about this...maybe it would help her feel better. "Me and...Kieron got into a little argument about...well, he never says he loves me back after I say it to him." she explained, rolling her eyes at the poorly worded way she had just come out with that and how juvenile it sounded now that she had spoken the words out loud. "And he got _mad _and just-...I dunno, it's stupid..." she then finished lamely, suddenly wishing she had not brought it up. The other end of the call was quiet again but Jayde's eyebrows furrowed when her ears picked up the whispering sound of an unfamiliar male voice in the distant background on Charlie's end. His voice broke through a few seconds later.

"Well, hey, you wanna come over for a little while? Give you a chance to...ya know, chill a bit before you have to go home?" he asked rather randomly, once again forcing Jayde's frown to deepen a bit. He really had nothing to say about what she had just told him? It seemed unlikely that he had absolutely no input on her situation, but Jayde just figured he was waiting to insult the boyfriend he had never met until he could do it in person. So figuring that she might as well go hang out for a while and give Joker a bit of a reason to worry, she shrugged.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Where do you live?"

Ten minutes later, after taking several turns to take her more deeply into the city than she had ever been before, Jayde was pulling the Corvette into a small, abandoned parking lot behind a tall apartment building, bordered on either side by narrow, trashed alleys. The dark brick building seemed perfectly nice but the dirty, cluttered alleys gave strong indication that the staff of the complex only took their cleaning endeavors so seriously and as Jayde walked past a white, windowless van, she cringed with disgust when she felt a wad of gum adhere itself to the bottom of her shoe and begin sticking with every step she took.

On the phone, only a few minutes prior, Charlie had told Jayde that his apartment was on the fourth floor and that his door would read the number 4B so after locating the stairs, Jayde began climbing, groaning quietly in annoyance as that gum continued to stick to the concrete beneath her. It seemed fairly likely that Charlie would try and ease his way into talking her out of her relationship with 'Kieron', seeing how that was usually the way guys operated; they would see their opportunity and pounce on it like a lion upon prey. But Jayde was steadfast in her loyalty to her man. No matter how angry he made her, no matter how much she looked forward to cussing him out when she returned home, there was no way she would let Charlie take advantage of her emotions and although he had never given any indication that he was sexually attracted to her, Jayde could not help but feel like there had been a greater purpose behind him asking her to come over.

At the door to apartment 4B, Jayde paused, taking a deep breath to steady that bitter, irritated feeling that had crept up inside her after reliving her poorly executed conversation with Joker on the way up the stairs but after exhaling, she reached out and knocked firmly on the wooden door. There was silence on the other side, before her ears picked up the clinking of locks being shifted out of place.

"Jayde?" came Charlie's voice through the door.

"Yeah!" she called back, finally grinning when she felt herself slightly excited to see what her friend's apartment looked like and as the door before her swung open slowly, she peered around the edge, smiling widely when she spotted Charlie. "Hey!" she greeted him, taking a few steps into the entrance hallway to the small apartment, her eyes darting around at the bare walls before she looked back to him. However, her grin faded rapidly when she noticed the blank, slightly widened appearance to his eyes and the way he seemed to be holding his breath. "What's wrong?"

Charlie's eyes quickly darted past her to something seemingly behind her on the inside of the door but just as Jayde turned her head to see what he had noticed, she gasped, throwing up her arm. This was in vain. The business end of a wooden baseball bat collided heavily with the side of her face, the sickening crack of wood on bone echoing in the small apartment and as Jayde fell to her side on the musty carpet beneath her, she took in several gasps of air through the excruciating pain resonating from the side of her head. Her vision started to blur, her heartbeat pounding deafeningly in her ears but as she blinked hard to try and force herself to remain conscious, a distorted face came into focus, and a short, stocky body leaned over her.

"Hey, Jayde," came a higher pitched, thick Chicago accent from somewhere above her. "I'm Michael...It's nice ta' finally meet ya..."

Then everything went black.

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A/N: Alright, ladies and germs, this is the beginning of the end. And yes, I realize it's random but I've had this whole thing planned since before I even started writing this story and I've always been a fan of the element of surprise... So LEAVE ME A REVIEW if you really want to see what happens next... -QoM


	23. 35 Hours 47 Minutes

Time had seemingly slowed to a crawl as Joker stomped from one room to another, irritably moving things that did not need to be moved like a teenager being made to do chores, fuming as he thought back on that ridiculous argument from earlier. Over and over, since Jayde had left the house nearly three hours prior, Joker had mentally gone over what she said, how he had responded, dissecting every detail in an effort to somehow explain to himself what had gone wrong. He _hated _that Jayde now had this sort of affect on him...leaving him to fume over things that normally he would not find worthy of even a second of his time.

How could Jayde have sprung those sort of questions on him? He had just gotten used to the fact that she was officially _his _girl and now she was demanding explanations from him for why he was not saying the three words she wanted to hear? Hadn't he only a week or so before divulged to her that she was the first person EVER to say those three words to him? So how the _fuck _did she expect him to say that back to her, when he didn't even know what that emotion was supposed to feel like? Sure, he loved...knives, gunpowder, dynamite and pussy but...Jayde? He didn't _love _her...he couldn't!..._Right? _

So over the next hour or two, Joker's mind tumbled and ran circles around itself, repeating the same internal argument he had been fighting all evening until he glanced at his watch, only for his eyes to widen slightly when he noticed the time had just reached 10:30. The sun had long since gone down but he had only been expecting it to be around seven or eight...not going on almost six and a half hours since Jayde had left the house. Despite how irritated he still felt toward her, Joker cringed with an uncomfortable swallow when a tiny ball of anxiety began to form itself in the very pit of his stomach. Where _was _she? And what, or more importantly, _who _was she doing? At that thought, Joker stood abruptly from where he had finally settled on the couch and moved toward the garage in an effort to try and work through that almost nonexistent pang of worry he felt in the very back of his mind...although he felt as though this was a little like trying to 'walk off' a broken ankle.

As he stepped out into the chilly garage, his eyebrows practically met in the middle of his forehead when his eyes fell onto the huge Escalade, sitting to the left of an empty space where the Corvette usually sat and that knot in his stomach tightened a bit. Why had she taken _that _car in particular? Why had she chosen the Corvette over the safer, more reliable SUV that she had already said she preferred to drive? Was it perhaps because she had remembered that there was a GPS locating chip installed under the frame? That ball of nerves melted rapidly into a sickening pool of anger as he stepped back into the house, his teeth gritting together tightly, the garage door slamming behind him as he walked over to the coffee table in front of the couch.

His phone was exactly where he had left it, sitting atop one of the glass coasters and as he brought it closer to his face, he let out a slow growling breath of air through his nose when he noticed that he had not missed any calls nor received any text messages. His thumb then tapped the touch screen, bringing up the call log where his eyes fell onto the name 'Woman' a few places down from the most recently called number. However, just as his finger was about to punch a hole through the green button, he tossed the phone away from him onto the couch with a sigh, figuring that it would do him no good to suddenly become one of those self-conscious, constantly suspicious boyfriends that he had so hated dealing with back in his...more...promiscuous days of sleeping with other guy's girlfriends. So with a sigh, he decided to give it another hour or so and if she _still _wasn't home and if she _still _hadn't called with a spectacular excuse, he would pick up the phone and find out where she was.

However, once that hour had passed and was growing closer to two, Joker found himself sitting on the couch with his phone in his hands, his knee bouncing out of control as his eyes glanced back and forth from the screen of the phone to his watch. The time was now nearing midnight and still he had not heard from Jayde. Several times, the sound of a loud, approaching engine would cause his stomach to clench up in what he tried to deny was relief but only for that to dissipate rapidly as the sound of the car faded away again down the street. Once, he had even gotten up and walked down the driveway to the street, to glance both ways down Lincoln avenue only to growl in frustration to himself when he realized where he was and what he was doing.

Now, he was left with only two options; he could call Jayde, find out where she was and prepare himself to go kill whoever she was with, OR he could call Dotcom and find out if he had heard from her, which meant admitting that he was starting to get a little worried about her. It seemed one merited the other, so he started at step one and pressed his thumb to the green button, raising it to his ear once it started to connect to Jayde's phone. A moment later, after no rings, a familiar female voice greeted his ears. "_You have reached the voice mailbox __of...seven..one..two..." _ That nervous ball of anxiety suddenly tripled in size; Jayde would not have turned off her phone unless she _really _didn't want to talk to him...either that or...he really did not want to consider any alternatives just yet.

With step two still in play, he looked down to the phone again, quickly scrolling through numbers until his eyes recognized the name 'Faggot' and without even pausing to consider the time or whether he really wanted to involve Dotcom, he pressed the green button again, bringing the phone to his ear. It began ringing instantly which he hated to admit brought him a small bit of comfort; perhaps Jayde was on her way to New York at that very moment. After three rings, there was a rustling on the other end before a groggy voice answered. Joker's heart sank.

"...'lo?"

"Hey...I don't suppose you've heard from Jayde, have you?" he asked, his features tightening into a cringe when he realized how pathetic it was of him to be calling to ask this. But he was already there, he might as well hear the answer. Dotcom cleared his throat sleepily.

"No, I haven't," he answered, his voice now sounding slightly alarmed, which only helped tighten that knot in Joker's stomach again. "Why? Have you not-"

"She...left at about four-thirty this afternoon and..." _DAMNIT. "_-she hasn't called or been home so I was just wondering if she was either...on her way to stay with you or what..." Joker finally explained with a heavy sigh, the back of his head meeting the couch as he closed his eyes. There was more rustling on the other end of the phone, followed by a soft click which Joker guessed was from Dotcom sitting up in bed and turning on the light.

"Why would she becoming to stay with me?" he asked confusedly, although only a moment later, he went on, his voice suddenly harsh. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing!" Joker answered loudly, his eyes flying open and his eyebrows immediately arching in a frown. "We were just..._talking _and she got mad and...said she was going out to just...clear her head or some stupid shit..." his voice trailed off as he mentally replayed the sound of her voice and exactly what she had said, dissecting it for clues. Dotcom sighed into the phone from the other end of the call.

"Did you try calling her?"

"_No, _I figured calling _you _was the first logical step..." Joker answered sarcastically, his tone biting. When Dotcom remained silent, he continued with a heavy roll of his eyes. "Of course I tried calling her. Her phone is turned off."

"Oh god..." Dotcom's voice finally came through, portraying a slight hint of recognizable panic. "You don't think-..." he started up again but Joker cut him off, rising quickly from the couch when the need to pace became overwhelming.

"-That she's fucking that Charlie guy? Yeah, I do actually." he snapped, hastily running a hand through the front of his nappy green waves. From the other end of the phone, Joker heard Dotcom scoff loudly.

"Oh, _please, _Joker..." he replied in a very gay sort of way. "Jayde wouldn't cheat on you if her life depended on it. I was going to say, you don't think she was arrested, do you?"

At this, Joker felt truly nauseas and he paused in his pacing, closing his eyes as he rubbed one hand back and forth across his stomach. He shook his head a moment later. "No, one of my inside guys would have called me by now..." he paused, opening his eyes again and they fixed unmoving on the wall across from him. "I don't what's going on but...something's not right..." he shook his head, cringing again as he brought two fingers up to massage his forehead where a headache had just started to form itself behind his eyeballs. There was more movement on the other end of the phone before Dotcom spoke again.

"Alright well I'm leaving now. I should be there by eight or ni-" he had began explaining but Joker groaned, tilting his head back in frustration.

"No, Dotcom, it's not that serious. I'm sure she's just-" he interrupted hastily, but now, it was Dotcom's turn to butt in.

"Joker, stop acting like you aren't worried. If you weren't freaking out, you wouldn't have called me." Dotcom suddenly put firmly and Joker shut his mouth, once again pausing mid-step in his fifth pass in front of the couch. He could just see the determined scowl on his nerd's face. "I'm packing a few things then I'll be leaving. Expect me there at around eight or nine." Here, Dotcom finally stopped and Joker was just about to hang up when his voice broke through again. "Oh, and Joker?"

"_Yes?"_ he answered in a quiet, clowny voice.

"Please, for the love of god, call me if you hear from her. I don't want to get there and find you two asleep in the bed."

Joker hung up with another generous roll of his eyes but had to admit...at this point, hearing from Jayde seemed highly unlikely.

Pain such that Jayde had never felt before threatened to split her head clean into two halves. Her eyes felt as though they had been glued shut, her lids weighted down by the crushing, throbbing ache resonating from the upper corner of her face and her entire body tingled uncomfortably. As she began to stir, she kept her eyes firmly shut, unsure at that point whether she would be able to open them, even if she wanted to and she turned slowly from her back onto her side, shivering violently as her cheek met the freezing cold surface on which she lay. Her ears were ringing loudly, the muffled sound of her heartbeat throbbing slowly inside her head. Vaguely through the haze, she heard a hushed, familiar male voice from somewhere above her.

_"-we supposed to do now?" _she heard him ask, his voice obscure and muted as though through an old radio.

"_We wake her up, idiot. She's obviously gotta be conscious if she's gonna-..." _

The last bit of the answer to Charlie's question was cut off as Jayde suddenly let out a yelp of pain when something solid and heavy landed atop her exposed ribcage, pushing the excruciatingly sore side of her face into the concrete floor. Her right arm stretched out in front of her, blindly feeling around for the other foot belonging to the person who was now partially standing on her but her fingers felt nothing but more cold, empty concrete.

"See? Now she's awake." Came the same voice from earlier, this time from directly over her. "_Jayde? _Can you hear me?" Michael then asked loudly, the weight from his heavy shoe against her side increasing slightly as he leaned down toward her. A soft sob of fear and pain escaped Jayde as she slowly forced her eyes open to reveal a blurry, dirty, dark gray floor before her but before she could open her mouth to croak out some sort of plea, the foot against her side began rocking her forcefully back and forth, turning that pain from her fractured zygomatic bone from barely tolerable to absolutely blinding. She screamed, rolling helplessly onto her back to hold one hand out above her in a silent imploration for mercy. Michael seemed to find this funny. He laughed as he removed his foot and leaned down over Jayde, fisting his hand into the top of her loose hair to pull her up into a sitting position.

"_There _we go..." he murmured, patting the top of her head heavily. Jayde whimpered as this vibrated the throbbing bones in her face but as Michael took a few steps away from her, she squinted up at his retreating back, those tears now finally falling down her face when her gaze slid past him and onto Charlie. He was standing several yards away from where she now sat, his arms crossed tightly over his chest and his eyes wide as he stared down at her.

"Charlie...?" she murmured, struggling hard to keep her expression in one position, knowing how badly it would hurt to allow her nose to crinkle with tears. However, across from her, he shook his head in an almost reproachful way, turning his back to her as he took a few steps further away. A moment later, he turned back to her, unfolding his arms, his eyebrows raised from behind his glasses.

"You know, I always thought it was a little strange how adamant you were about me _not _meeting your 'boyfriend'-..." he raised his fingers to form quotation marks around the word. "-and how you never seemed that surprised to hear about these random killings in the newspaper. Then today...when I heard that..._freak's _voice answering your phone..." At this, he paused, his body convulsing vaguely in a disgusted shudder. He went on, shaking his head after he had cleared his throat to try and regain a calm demeanor. "But I just thought...'no, it can't be him...there's no way'..." Again, he paused, taking another few steps toward her until he was less than three feet from her. "Then I did a little research on the Gotham news website?...I found this..._video _of you...drugged and...the voice of the _Joker _sounded an awful lot like your 'boyfriend'...Kieron." Here, Jayde cut in, shaking her head as her face finally crumpled and more tears slid down her dirty, bruised cheek.

"Charlie...please..." she whimpered, but he was continuing, completely ignoring her.

"Then I found these articles...The ones explaining how you had been 'kidnapped', but that your apartment had been emptied like you had known you wouldn't be staying there." Charlie went on to explain. "You're wanted by the Gotham police! Did you know that? There's a warrant out for your arrest." He paused again, but only to turn and walk back over to his brother, who stood grinning, clearly enjoying this. "So at first, I thought I would just turn you in...but then I realized, it's not your fault. You were corrupted by that..._freak _so why should you be punished for him?" Finally, Charlie paused long enough for Jayde to cut in and she screamed, her entire body trembling violently now.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?"

"You're bait!" Michael shouted from next to Charlie, that horrible, snide grin on his pudgy face. "We're gonna lure that freak show here, then we're gonna kill 'im."

Jayde shook her head as Michael laughed, pushing herself weakly onto her knees. "It's not going to work..." she murmured, glaring heavily back and forth between Charlie and his evil brother. "IT WONT WORK." she repeated herself a moment later, more loudly and more adamantly than the time before. At this, Charlie let out a short bark of a laugh, tossing his head slightly as he turned to look at Michael.

"Ya know, maybe she's right. He probably wont come, even if we threaten to kill her. I mean, the guy wont even say 'I _love _you'!" he said and both brothers burst into loud, horrible laughter as Jayde crumbled back down to her knees.

"SHUT UP!" she screamed again, her voice shrill and echoing loudly in the tall, abandoned warehouse around her. "It wont work becau-" she went to go on and explain all the ways in which the brothers were royally _fucked _but Michael was already walking over, rolling his eyes as he pulled a familiar Blackberry cell phone from his back pocket and turned it on.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure he'll show up on a white stallion to save his damsel in distress," he grumbled sarcastically as he sat down a foot or two from her on the concrete floor, glancing over at her damp and bruised face while he waited for the phone to load. Once it had, he raised his dark eyebrows. "So what's he saved under in here? 'Lover-boy'? 'Honey-buns'?" he asked scathingly but as Jayde glared murderously at him, he tsk-ed in mock surprise, glancing back over his shoulder to where Charlie still stood, watching. "Oh, would'ja look at that...'Joker'...Let's give 'im a call!"

The Joker sat slouched in his usual chair, his elbows on the carved table in front of him, his forehead rested heavily between his hands with his fingers raked up into his green, messy hair. His phone lay silently on the table between his elbows and after several long minutes of staring down at it, Joker had finally closed his eyes and was now mentally running through that day, scavenging through and picking apart every single thing Jayde had said, looking for clues as to where she might have been. The time now stood at 3:30am and Joker had just opened his eyes to check how far the long hand had moved past the six on his watch when suddenly, the phone between his elbows lit up and began to ring loudly. His heart leaped up into his throat as he read the name on the caller ID; it was Jayde.

"Where are you?" he growled into the phone.

"Oh, she's right here...looking _pathetic..."_

Joker rose slowly from his chair, the hair all along his arms and up the back of neck raising as giant goosebumps broke out along his skin. His blood began to boil in his ears, his heart racing.

"Who _is _this." he asked though the inflexion in his voice did not indicate a question. His tone remained deep yet dangerously calm. There was a laugh on the other end of the call that forced Joker's back teeth together, to begin grinding hard enough to form a powder.

"This is Michael, Charlie's brother!" the male voice replied in a bright, purposely taunting tone. "Ya know, Charlie? The guy your girl's been seeing on the side?" Another laugh caused Joker to stop at the far wall and place his hand on it, his fingers curling inward to the palm as he as visualized himself fitting his hands around this Michael person's throat.

"What have you done with her..." he growled, sliding his eyes closed as he strained his ears for noises in the background of the call, only to cringe when he picked up the very faint sound of a painfully familiar sob.

"I haven't done anything, _yet. _Which is where _you _come in!" Michael began to explain, his hate-inducing voice still raised to that horrible, taunting level. "See, you took something from _me, _so I took something from _you!"_

At this, Joker's eyes popped back open and he frowned, turning from the wall to stare confusedly at the rug in front of the couch. Was this all over something from his past? Had he slept with this guy's girlfriend back when that was his favorite thing to do? It seemed unlikely that this Michael person would just _now _be seeking revenge for something so far behind them, but as he really thought about it, he vaguely remembered Jayde explaining why he could_ never _meet Charlie or his brother.

"_Oh..._I remember now..." Joker growled, the back of his neck tingling and although he normally would have gone on to taunt this man with fake recollections of how 'pretty her face looked just before I slit it into a smile', but seeing how Jayde's life was truly at the mercy of this stranger, he held it in, once again closing his eyes as he stopped in the middle of the room. "So why not take this up with me? Why drag the girl into it?" he asked, his blood pressure rising so quickly, he could practically hear it. "You don't have the balls to face me on your own? You gotta bargain with me through a phone call? Hate to tell you this, but I don't make deals with criminals." Here, Joker could not stop himself from smirking, quickly recollecting all the times he'd heard that same phrase. On the other end of the phone, Michael seemed to be losing his patience.

"Yeah, yeah, look...You want your girl back, you gotta come get her," he explained. "But I'm only gonna give you another thirty-six hours. After that it's..." At this, Michael made a squelching noise that Joker could only assume had accompanied the motion of him dragging a finger across the front of his throat as he looked mockingly at Jayde. Despite himself, Joker swallowed hard when his stomach clenched up strongly enough to make him feel uncomfortably close to being sick. "But here's the catch- I'm _not _going to tell you where we are."

Joker tossed his arms, turning quickly to pace back toward the hallway. "How the fuck am I supposed to-" he went to ask loudly, his impatience and the sudden seriousness of the situation getting the best of him, but Michael interrupted with another laugh.

"Oh, you seem like a smart enough man, Mister Joker..." he said. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

_Click. _

In one fluid motion, Joker brought the phone down from his ear and raised his arm in preparation to throw it as hard as he could against the wall across from him, but he paused and lowered it slowly to his side, knowing that destroying his only means of communication with Jayde's captors might not be the best idea. Instead, he brought the phone back up a second later, hurriedly scrolling through his contacts to locate Dotcom's number again. Fortunately, it was right where he had left it, so after pressing his thumb to that green button, he held the phone to his ear, waiting for that dialing tone to come through. After only one ring, Dotcom's voice picked up.

"Yeah?" he answered, his voice already urgent. "Is she home?"

For some reason or another, this question propelled Joker's anger into a state of fury the likes of which he had not experienced in quite some time.

"_NO," _ he replied loudly, his free hand fisting into the front of his hair. "That _faggot _Charlie and his brother have her. Say they're holding her hostage until I go get her."

There was a silence on the other end of the call where Joker could just picture Dotcom leaning forward on the steering wheel to run a hand apprehensively through his curly red hair, completely ignoring Joker's use of the offensive 'F-word'. "Did they say where they holding her?" he asked in what could be considered a normal question but again Joker growled, reaching out to bang his fist hard on the wall in front of him.

"NO! They just said I had thirty-six hours to find her or they're gonna kill her." he explained, turning his back to the wall now, to lean against it and close his eyes, try to regain some small semblance of composure, despite the fact that every nerve in his body was firing on all cylinders. However a moment later, he pushed himself up from against the wall and immediately began walking toward the bedroom. "I'm going out. I gotta-" he started to explain hastily but Dotcom interrupted loudly.

"And do what?" he practically shouted, clearly having thought that Joker had lowered the phone. "What are you gonna do? Just go start knocking on doors, asking people if they've seen a short, white girl?" he asked with a bit more bite to his voice than Joker would have liked but he remained quiet nonetheless, waiting for Dotcom to make his point. "No, just stay there. There's nothing you can do until I get there and we can try to triangulate the position of her phone..." Joker dropped down into a sitting position on the bed in defeat when he realized Dotcom was unfortunately right. "I'm just now getting into Indiana, so you might as well try to get some sleep until I get there. Just keep your phone next to you so I can call when I get closer."

At this, Joker did pull the phone away from his ear, trying hard to withhold his sigh of aggravation and slight helplessness until he had ended the call and dropped the device next to him, to lean forward and rub his face heavily with both hands. As much as he hated to admit it, Dotcom was right; there really was nothing he could do at that point. He literally had no idea where to even start looking, seeing how Chicago was indeed a vast city with hundreds upon thousands of places one could hide a hostage and remain completely undetected. So with another heavy sigh, Joker lay down on his back along the empty bed, thinking that perhaps it would do him good to get a few hours of sleep since it now appeared as though the next thirty-five hours and forty-seven minutes would be spent searching for a very pretty but likely terrified needle in a giant, endless haystack.

A/N: A short chapter but I wrote it fast and wanted to put it out quickly since you guys were so good about those reviews. So if you want the next one out just as efficiently, leave me more reviews and describe in detail what you liked or didn't like about the chapter. We are less than five chapters from the final end to the JnJ saga so really step it up and let me know what you thought. I'm looking for at least 15 reviews on this one before we move on! You guys can do it! The Queen of Mean believes in you! -QoM


	24. Tick Tock Tick Tock

…._3:00am..._

_ ….4:00am..._

_ ...4:43am..._

_ ….5:13am..._

_ ….6:28am..._

The Joker watched these times come and go on the face of his silent phone, his eyes no closer to staying closed than they had been four hours ago. Sure, he had tried at first, but sleep, as it usually was when one needed it most, was being as elusive, evading and as nonexistent as a purple unicorn and each time he finally felt himself growing closer, slipping away into that warm fuzz, a quick image of Jayde, shivering and crying in fear, would crop up into his imagination and his eyes would fly back open, revealing that empty and dark bedroom around him. Each time this happened, it left him feeling a bit more angry than the time before, until he finally gave up trying and turned over onto his back, giving into the thoughts and schemes that were already welling themselves up in his brain.

At around 7:30, Joker had just allowed his eyes to slide shut again when from beside him on the bed, where Jayde usually slept, the phone started ringing loudly, announcing that Dotcom was calling. Joker could not help but groan at the almost painful pang of disappointment he felt when he realized the call was not coming from Jayde's phone. He sighed, bringing it up to his left ear.

"Yeah." he answered flatly, closing his eyes once again as he waited for Dotcom to speak.

"I should be pulling up outside in just a second," he announced, his voice still carrying that note of urgency. "Come outside so I don't accidentally pull up in someone else's driveway."

With another groan, Joker pushed himself into a sitting position before swinging his long legs off the side of the bed to stand up. "Alright, I'm comin'..." he growled, rolling his eyes as he struggled hard to ignore how tired his body felt but yet how alive and churning his mind was. If only there was some way to get the two in sync without forcing himself to sleep and therefore losing more time in which he could be figuring out a way to find Jayde.

At some point, the sun had decided to start rising, filling the living room with an eerie blue glow and as Joker walked past the couch, he glanced through the window beyond it where he could just see the top curve of the sun beginning peer over the roof of the neighbors house across the street. He could not help but think that by the time that sun began to set on the other side of the house, he would have less than twenty-four hours left in which to find Jayde. This thought made him feel downright sick to his stomach.

At the door to the garage, Joker paused to unlock it then stepped out, trotting down two steps to the concrete floor where he shivered slightly, the cold biting at his socked toes. The sound of a familiar engine met his ears as he walked across to the heavy garage door and as he lifted it slowly, he looked out at the early morning light and the giant, black truck now pulling up into the driveway. Despite himself, his heart gave a pang of ache when he half expected to spot Tre sitting behind the steering wheel of his truck, and instead found Dotcom's bespectacled face through the windshield, leaning forward slightly to watch the front end of the vehicle as he pulled into the garage.

As much as he hated to admit it, there was something about Dotcom that he associated with business time and as his tech nerd hopped down out of the driver's seat to purposefully walk to the row of backseats, Joker felt an almost instinctual surge of energy flow through him, sapping him instantly of that exhaustion he had been feeling just moments before. As he walked over to peer inside at what Dotcom had brought with him, he felt his nerd glance up at him before quickly looking away again.

"Did you sleep?" he asked in what he clearly hoped would be taken as an offhanded question. Joker shook his head quickly, holding out his arms to take three heavy boxes from Dotcom.

"No," he answered, but hastily went on when he noticed Dotcom open his mouth to retort. "I'm fine. We've already wasted enough time."

Dotcom abruptly shut his mouth and continued unloading the remaining boxes, apparently figuring it would do him no good to say anything further.

Ten minutes later, the normally bare, carved kitchen table had been transformed into something that closely resembled a command central, with two large computer towers, that had been turned on their sides to provide a stable platform for two broad, very expensive monitors. Dotcom was just unfurling a long extension cord, complete with power strip when Joker rounded the corner, pulling a clean, black, long sleeved shirt down over his chest. He paused next to the table, his mind quickly taking him back to the house in Gotham where he could clearly remember this same equipment set up in Dotcom's room; he was immensely grateful he had had allowed him to keep it after the move. He had just opened his mouth to ask what their first step was when Dotcom glanced up at him, quickly eyeing him up and down with an arched eyebrow.

"You look like hell, boss." he stated, clearly noticing the gradually forming dark circles beneath his eyes and his messy, unkempt hair that he had been tossing and turning on for the past five hours. Joker folded his arms, leaning toward him slightly.

"Yeah? Well you're gay," he bit back, but before Dotcom could answer, he nodded his head at all the equipment. "What do we do first?"

Luckily, Dotcom had chosen to completely ignore Joker's comment and was already back in business mode, reaching out to pull several cords and smaller devices toward him from beyond the wall of computer monitors.

"Go get your phone and charger," he instructed as professionally and calmly as he always had back when he was helping to assist Joker with his more insane, extraordinary acts of chaos. "I wanna get a tap set up."

Within moments Joker was returning to the table, holding out his Blackberry to Dotcom, who took it immediately and began plugging in several cords, one to the microphone jack, the other to the charge outlet, before he plugged both of these devices into one of the computer towers. Joker watched him, feeling slightly useless as he had never developed a desire to learn how this stuff worked and had always just relied on Dotcom to take care of these things for him. Looking back, he had to admit, he was really grateful Dotcom had chosen to drive down and help him...Apparently, he was not ready to lose Jayde yet either.

"Alright..." Dotcom started a few moments later, exhaling heavily as though plugging in the small black box and cords had been rather stressful. "Now, when they call next time, we can record the conversation, then break it down afterwards and try to magnify any background noises. Maybe we'll find something that's characteristic to one part of the city."

At this, Joker nodded, sighing heavily as he slid into his usual chair at the table, leaning forward to rub his face with both hands. Across from him, Dotcom was silent but spoke a few seconds later.

"Joker..." he said, his tone suddenly losing that note of professionalism and softening into something that almost mimicked comfort. Joker looked up, raising his eyebrows. "I'm worried too." he stated and paused, but went on when Joker's gaze fell to the painfully silent phone rested on the table between them. "We're gonna find her."

Here, Joker rose from the table swiftly, taking a few steps away from it into the middle of the kitchen before he turned again, reaching up to run one hand through the front of his tangled hair. "There's gotta be something else we can do. We can't just _sit _here and wait for them to call...I mean, there's only..." he paused, looking at his watch, but Dotcom cut in, turning back to the computers on the table.

"We can try and triangulate the position of her phone," he suggested, leaning forward on his hands to begin tracing his finger along the touch screen computer monitor, pulling up several complex menus. "It'll be tricky without an active call going on, but I _might _be able to-..." As was characteristic with him, Dotcom launched into a long-winded description of what he was doing, most of which Joker could not even remotely understand, but instead of tuning him out like he normally did, he walked back over and stood next to him, peering down at the screen to try and follow along. "-so if her phone is still on and picking up reception, I might be able to get a rough coordinate of where it's located." At this, Joker jumped in, suddenly seeing a speck of light at the end of the tunnel.

"If her phone is on, couldn't I call it from mine and get a...active call or whatever?" he asked, glancing down at Dotcom's face as he stood up, staring off at the opposite wall pensively. A moment later, he nodded.

"Yeah, that's actually a good idea. Try it."

Quickly, Joker reached out for his phone, his stomach suddenly knots with anxiety as he imagined this being the end to a highly realistic bad dream but as he quickly located Jayde's number, dialed it and held the phone to his ear, he exhaled frustratedly through his nose when that robotic female voice answered after no rings.

"_You have reached the voice mailbox of..."_

He hung up, doing everything in his power to once again resist the urge to slam the phone down on the table and instead, he let it drop back to the wood with a thunk, placing his hands back on his waist to glare down at the device. Next to him, Dotcom sighed.

"Don't worry," he started consolingly. "I'm sure they'll call agai-"

"And if they don't?" Joker suddenly cut in sharply, turning his head to glare down at Dotcom. "We're just gonna _sit_ here while-...She's probably-..." For the first time, Joker's voice betrayed a bit of panic, which Dotcom immediately picked up on and he turned, frowning as he scowled up at him.

"Would you chill out? You're the god damn _Joker, _for Christ sake. I thought for sure you'd be the _first _person reminding yourself that..." he grumbled, turning away from the table to walk over to the kitchen cabinets, where he immediately began opening them one by one, searching for Jayde's stash of coffee and filters. Joker watched him go, slightly taken back that he had to be reminded of who he was by someone other than himself but as he took in the almost nonchalant demeanor of Dotcom, he tossed his arms, taking a step toward him.

"Yeah, you're right. I _am _the Joker." he began, his voice calm at first, but he went on, his volume raising as Dotcom turned to look at him. "But this isn't some..._bomb _that might not go off! This isn't a plan that might not work out! This is-...it's-..." he trailed off, stammering as he noticed a teeny tiny smirk begin to appear on Dotcom's face. "What the _fuck _are you smiling about?" he shouted a moment later.

Across from him, Dotcom turned away again, pouring some of the coffee grounds he found into the electric brewer on the counter. "I bet I can guess what you two fought about..." he said rather quietly, the tone of his voice indicating that he was still smirking to himself, which only helped frustrate Joker more. When he did not answer, Dotcom turned again, placing his hands on the counter behind him. "She got mad because you wouldn't say you loved her...right?" Despite how hard he tried to remain unphased, a nearly unnoticeable expression of surprise gave him away and Dotcom nodded, turning back to the coffee brewer with a shake of his head. "I swear, you are the smartest person I know but you are so _dumb _when it comes to Jayde."

Joker blinked; he could swear he'd heard that before.

After having been up and been forced to stay awake for the past five hours, the pain in Jayde's cheek had weakened a bit, leaving her brain a bit more functional than it had been when she had first come around. The sun had been up for an hour or two, bathing half of the long, tall warehouse in an oxymoronic, golden glow, although the half of the room Jayde was being kept in remained in shadows and therefore vastly more cold than the warm lit side. With hateful, glaring eyes, she watched from her place against a tall steel plumbing pipe as Michael stood up from his comfortable place against the windows, to pull a bag of white powder from his pocket. Using his pinky, he dipped down into the bag, picking up a bump of coke before he brought it to his left nostril and inhaled deeply, shivering slightly as the drugs rushed into his system. Behind him, against the window, Charlie was watching somewhat distastefully. After rubbing the excess powder along his upper gums, Michael turned to face his brother, sniffing a few times before he spoke.

"What time is it?" he practically shouted, the drugs already doing wonders to put his nerves and temperament on edge. Charlie jumped as if out of a daze and brought his wrist up, glancing at his watch.

"It's a quarter of nine," he answered calmly but sat up from against the wall when Michael suddenly turned and strode determinedly toward Jayde. Her back made contact with the pipe behind her as he approached and she held her breath, her eyes widening as he knelt down, reaching behind him to pull a black handgun from the line of his jeans; her heart skipped several beats. She had no idea he had been carrying a gun this entire time.

"So listen here, girly. Me and Charlie hafta run out and do a few things so we're gonna leave you here," he explained, his eyes widening slightly before he sniffed a few more times. Despite the thrill of hope Jayde felt upon hearing this, she forced her face to remain as loathing and stoic as possible. "But before you get any funny ideas, keep in mind that we're up three stories high, the windows are sealed and we're gonna chain the door shut!" he went on, inching closer to her as the coke really began to work him up into something like a maddened state. "CHARLIE!" he suddenly shouted, causing Jayde to jump, flinching as he stood up quickly, tucking that gun back into the front lining of his jeans. She watched him do this, vaguely remembering how Joker had told her once that it was never a good idea to stow a loaded gun so close to one's genitals. She hoped wildly Michael would learn this lesson the hard way.

"Alright, girly! Remember what I said!" Michael was now shouting as he and Charlie walked toward the only door in the building, off to the left, before they both slipped through it and out into the morning. Jayde watched, listening as she heard the unmistakable sound of heavy chain being moved into place, before silence descended throughout the huge room.

For several minutes, Jayde sat there, waiting, counting the seconds until she had passed eighty, and once convinced that the brothers had gone, leaving her completely alone, she slowly pushed herself up, taking her time to stand up as gradually as possible, knowing her fractured face would likely cause her to become lightheaded, not to mention the fact that she had not eaten in over ten hours. Once standing, she took a few careful steps away from the pole, keeping her footfall light in order to prevent the bones in her face from vibrating too harshly, but once she began moving and the realization that she was perfectly alone set in, she picked up her pace, not caring at this point whether or not her face hurt. Her chance at escaping grew more and more narrow with every second she wasted.

At the door, she reached out with both hands, fitting them tightly around the bar to pull as hard as she could before she rocked forward, throwing all of her strength into moving the heavy metal. It gave way the tiniest of amounts but swung back into place as she released her grasp. Apparently, Michael had threaded a heavy length of boating chain around the bar of the outside door handle and another bar that had been bolted into the wall, locking it in place with a three inch padlock. A soft sob of dismay escaped her but instead of giving up there, she turned and stared around at the inside of the vast room, her eyes darting through the emptiness until she spotted the windows. A second later, she was running toward them, forcefully ignoring the throbbing pain in her cheekbone, until her hands made contact with the glass and immediately began sliding along the wide frame.

As Michael had warned her, the windows were indeed sealed shut, bonded that way with white, industrial strength caulk that she would most certainly have needed an electric drill of some kind to get through. But as she once again pressed her palms against the chilled glass, she tapped her fingernails against it, mildly surprised when it made a light ticking noise. Bringing her hand back, she balled her fingers into a fist and knocked against the glass, peering closely at it to try and see how thick it was. It only seemed about a quarter of an inch thick so Jayde figured if she were to bring her arm back as far as it would go and throw all her weight into it, she might just be able to punch a hole through the glass..._then _she could deal with the distance to the ground from three stories up.

But as Jayde brought her fist back and swung as hard as she could at the glass, she cried out in pain as her hand collided and bounced back, vibrating her bones painfully all the up to her shoulder. At this, she stepped back up to the glass, slapping both hands against it in defeat, resting her forehead against the cool surface to close her eyes and allow a few more tears to slide down her cheeks, down her neck until they soaked into the line of her white, now dirty long sleeved shirt.

Life had gone from absolutely wonderful to beyond unfair within a matter of seconds and all Jayde could now think about was how differently her morning would be turning out if she had only chosen to stay home and talk things through with Joker...not _leave _like some spoiled teenager that had not gotten exactly what they wanted. It truly was her fault for finding herself in this situation and if she admitted it fairly, she supposed she did somewhat deserve what she had gotten. How long had she been expecting to live her life with a prince of crime without something like this happening to her? However, despite how poorly she felt about her decision to leave the house over a silly argument, she really did hope beyond anything, beyond any other hope she had ever experienced that Joker would make it to her before thirty-six hours had run out.

For several minutes, Jayde stood there with her forehead and hands against the cold glass, her warm breath leaving a large smudge of condensation as she breathed heavily against it. But as she opened her eyes to blink slowly and focus her gaze on the street below, she opened and closed them tightly several times when she noticed that this building, wherever it was, was sitting conveniently on a corner...just next to a street sign. Squinting, Jayde stood on her toes, pushing her face as close to the glass as she could until her eyes could just make out the name 'Blackburn St.' on the horizontal, green name plate at the top of the pole. Three small numbers sat in the upper right corner of the street and after straining her eyes for another few seconds, she read the number '700', which she assumed belonged to the building she was currently standing in.

A moment later, Jayde jumped with a gasp, her absolutely shot nerves putting her on edge as the distant gong of church bells echoed quietly in the warehouse. She sighed, closing her eyes as she pressed a hand to her chest and swallowed hard, trying to calm her heart down from the racing rhythm it had just jumped to. As she stood there, taking deep breaths, she counted silently each peal of the bells, from one, all the way through to nine where they stopped and silence descended once more. Only seconds later, however, she jumped again when the sound of a car door slamming from down below on the ground outside tore her from her moment of calm. Turning quickly to the glass once more, she rose onto her toes, peering down as far as she could, but only to let out a short squeak of panic when she noticed Michael and Charlie rounding the back end of the white, window-less van she could now remember seeing in the alley the day before, outside Charlie's apartment building.

Despite her body's attempt to lock up in panic and keep her standing there by the window, Jayde forced herself away from it and instead ran across the room, back over to that pipe, where she slid into place and leaned against it, just as the chains outside the door began to rattle. They had not been gone very long, but as they walked in carrying several bags, Jayde could only assume the coke-fiend Michael had hurried them through their errands, clearly of the mind that Jayde would somehow be able to melt into a puddle and slide beneath the crack of the door.

Within moments, the sound of the chains being released echoed through the huge room and Jayde had just managed to slow her breathing back to normal when the brothers entered, Michael looking slightly strung out, Charlie looking rather sour after apparently dealing with his brother's madness. Several white plastic shopping bags hung from Charlie's hands and as Jayde watched him, she glanced up to his face when she noticed him look over, and for a moment or two, their eyes locked, but only for a split second before he looked away, over to where Michael was now pulling that bag of coke from his pocket. From just that split second where their eyes met, Jayde could almost swear she noticed a tiny, miniscule hint of remorse behind his glasses but of course, the next moment it was gone when his brother came storming over to him, to yank one of the white bags out of his hand. Jayde flinched when his harsh voice cracked the air in the warehouse.

"Well I see you didn't escape," he said loudly, opening the plastic bag to reach down inside as he walked toward her briskly. Again, Jayde backed up against the pipe behind her, hoping to put as much distance between them as she could, but as Michael reached her and knelt down, her eyes widened when she noticed what he had pulled from the bag. The metallic roll of silver duct tape caught the light in just the perfect way to gleam slightly as he dug his short thumb nail beneath the free edge, to pull a long length away and tear it from the remainder of the roll with his teeth. He looked back up to Jayde, his skeeted eyes wide and slightly bloodshot. "But just in case, let's give you some silver bracelets. Don't want you gettin' any funny ideas."

At this, Michael reached out, grabbing both of her wrists together in one of his surprisingly strong hands, forcing a whimper from Jayde as her bones rubbed together uncomfortably beneath his tight grip. She watched, silently, begging herself not to cry, as Michael bound her wrists together as tightly as possible with the tape, before tearing off another long strip and wrapping that around them as well, clearly thinking that one would not be enough to contain her super-human strength. Once finished, he looked up at her, grinning that horrible, taunting smile that sent nauseating chills down her spine as she stared hatefully back up into his pudgy, heavily acne-scarred face.

"You know, it's understandable why the Joker would have wanted you..." he started, reaching out with one cold finger to trace the curve of her jaw. "You are _really _hot..." he then added in a lower voice, his finger now traveling down the front of her neck where he tucked it down into the lining of her shirt.

Before Jayde could stop herself or think through the repercussions of her actions, she spit in Michael's face, immediately using the heels of her feet to push her backwards, beyond the pipe behind her. A loud shout of disgust erupted from Michael, just a second before he was moving after her, grabbing her ankle to pull her back to him.

"You disgusting little BITCH!" he shouted as Jayde struggled, fruitlessly trying to use her bound hands to push him off of her but he was much too heavy and merely threw more of his weight into pinning her down. A moment later, his arm drew back, only to swing out and connect the palm of his hand with the broken side of her face so hard, Jayde's vision went black as she screamed out in pain, but only for a second or two before she looked up and saw Michael drawing his hand back again. He slapped her again, right in the same place but as he drew back a third time and Jayde coiled in defense beneath him, a voice from across the room distracted them both.

"Michael!" Charlie had shouted, his voice echoing loudly enough to force his brother to turn his head completely, mid-swing, to look over his shoulder. Jayde's eyes were still shut, her ears ringing loudly from the rejuvenated pain in her face, but through the haze, she vaguely heard Charlie's next words. "Michael, stop. We're not punishing her...just the Joker, remember?"

The enraged expression on Michael's face deepened as he leaned off of Jayde and turned slightly. "She just spit in my fa-" he went to shout his excuse for beating Jayde but Charlie interrupted him, shaking his head as he leaned down to pick up one of the other plastic bags.

"I know, just..." he paused, glancing back over at his brother. "Just leave her alone, alright? Come eat."

At this, Michael mercifully stood up and walked away, furiously wiping the remainder of Jayde's spit from his cheek but as he approached Charlie and the food he had just pulled from the bag, he shook his head, walking over to the window instead. "I'm not hungry..." he grumbled as he passed, leaving Charlie to roll his eyes behind his back.

On the floor, next to the pipe, Jayde was finally pushing herself up into a sitting position again, trembling from that reborn pain in her face, a fresh bout of tears gliding slowly down her cheeks but as a set of legs suddenly appeared in front of her again, she jumped, cowering slightly with a quiet sob. But when the person before her did not strike out or even say anything, she slowly looked up, her eyes squinted as she remained prepared for the blow that was surely seconds away. A moment later, her face relaxed when she noticed that Charlie had walked over and was now holding a cold bottle of water down toward her, waiting for her to take it. Jayde reached out for it slowly, her eyes glancing upward to Charlie's, but before she could open her mouth to mutter a quiet 'thanks', he was already walking away.

At the house on the corner of Lincoln and Platt, after Dotcom had practically forced Joker to take a shower, he was emerging from the bedroom in another clean change of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, rubbing a towel over his head as he approached the table. Dotcom was sitting exactly where he had left him, in front of those touch-screen monitors, watching closely a rough map of the cell towers in Chicago when he glanced up, quickly giving Joker the once-over before he looked back to the monitors. It seemed from the way Joker was just standing there that Dotcom took this to mean he was looking for an update so he reached out, pointing at the numerous red blips on the screen.

"I've got a couple rough coordinates here of where numbers resembling Jayde's are located." he explained, tapping the screen to enlarge one particular dot. "If you wanna get your phone and try calling again, I can see if any of these light up."

Without even a second thought, Joker reached out for his phone and the wires connected to it, dropping his towel onto the chair next to him before he quickly pulled up Jayde's number and pressed the green button. A moment later, he jumped, his stomach clenching up in slight relief and excitement when the low, ringing sound came through the speakers Dotcom had set up. "It's ringing," he stated and pointed at the screen, snapping his fingers impatiently as Dotcom lurched forward and began tapping with one hand while the other typed something into the small keyboard in front of him.

Instantaneously, two of the blips on the screen lit up and began blinking but before Joker could say anything else, Dotcom was jumping up from his chair, reaching out for a black, leather bag from which he pulled a small laptop. Joker watched, his nerves again firing off synapses with record timing as Dotcom quickly unplugged Joker's phone from the main computers.

"Let's go," he stated, walking to the garage door. "We've got two addresses here."

Joker followed without question, grabbing the keys to the Escalade as he walked past the table and out into the garage, but as he stepped down from the step, he lowered the phone, his heart sinking. "It went to voicemail," he informed Dotcom, crossing paths with him as he rounded the front of the giant SUV to the driver's side. Across from him, Dotcom was climbing into the passenger seat, his right hand's fingers wildly tapping something into the keyboard.

"It's ok," he answered, his tone once again urgent. "Call it again, try to keep the line active until we get there."

The Escalade zoomed backward out of the driveway and out into the street as Joker spun the wheel, completely forgoing his usual step of stopping to put the garage door back down and instead, he took the SUV up to nearly fifty down Lincoln, glancing to his right for instruction from Dotcom.

"Where am I going?" he asked, his stomach in knots. Was this really about to be the end of this nightmare? Was he really about to find Jayde and the two morons who decided to sign their death wishes to get back at him?...He could only hope wildly on whatever luck he was granted that Michael and Charlie had stayed true to their word and kept Jayde alive. With the phone held to Joker's ear, dialing again, he glanced over at Dotcom a second time. "Where am I going?" he asked again, his voice now more urgent than the time before.

"The first signal is coming from Livery Ave, but it's weak." he explained, reaching out with both hands to spread his fingers across the screen and enlarge the map of inner-city Chicago. "The second is coming from Washbourne street and it's strong. Is it still ringing?"

By now, the call had once again gone to voicemail but immediately, Joker lowered the phone and dialed again, this time, reaching out for the cord connected to the microphone jack and he plugged it into the screen in the dashboard. A second later, that dialing tone came through the speakers in the car and began repeating itself. Beside him, Dotcom was typing again, his forehead furrowed as he watched the screen closely but only a second later, he jumped, pointing at one of the two remaining dots.

"1600 Washbourne street. Between Pine and Elm."

With that, the Escalade reached sixty, before hooking a swift left onto Pine from Main. At this point, Joker could never have cared less about obeying traffic laws in order to keep from being pulled over and as he ran a solid red light onto Washbourne, he kept his eyes peeled, straining them through the windows as he counted building numbers. Tall, brick apartment buildings lined the streets on either side, bordered one each end by narrow alleys and as Joker finally spotted the red brick building bearing the numbers '1600', he swung a quick left, narrowly missing the tail end of a sedan as he pulled into the alley north of the apartments.

His heart stopped as his eyes fell onto the back end of a familiar, black Stingray Corvette.

Seeing how the Escalade was already moving so fast, Joker was not able to stop it until it had already passed the Corvette by several yards, but as soon as it had come to a stop, he threw open the door and jumped out, leaving the Escalade running as he took off at a jog toward the front of the Corvette. That nauseating, chilling sensation from earlier returned abruptly to fester in the pit of his stomach as he slowed to a walk a few feet from the curvy hood of the Corvette, suddenly wondering if he really wanted to walk up and open the car door. There was every chance that he could open the passenger door or even the small hatch to the trunk and find Jayde's dead body stashed away with her ringing phone resting delicately on top of her...Joker was not sure he was completely ready for that fate to befall him and he wasn't sure he ever would be.

But as he closed in on the passenger side of the Corvette, his ears picked up the faint ringing of a cell phone, coming from somewhere inside and upon stopping to peer in through the window, his eyes first spotted the keys, dangling from the ignition. Opening the door, Joker's heart began to beat wildly against the inside of his chest. Why would they have left the keys? Reaching out across the passenger seat, he grabbed the keys, sliding them from the ignition before stowing them in his pocket. But as he stood up, his eyes fell onto a slip of paper, laying on the floor beneath the steering wheel on the opposite side, just underneath Jayde's black phone. A moment later, after retrieving both objects, Joker jumped when Dotcom suddenly appeared next to him outside the car. He was silent as Joker looked down at the scrawled note, bearing only a couple numbers and words.

"_24...23...22...21...tick tock tick tock..."_

At this, Joker leaned forward in the passenger seat, fisting both of his hands up into his hair as Dotcom heaved a heavy sigh from outside the car in the alley. His breath escaped him on a small cloud of condensation and he shrugged as Joker finally sat up, his eyes focused lividly on the tan leather dashboard in front of him.

"It's ok, Joker...I'm su-" he went to say something in a quiet, comforting voice but Joker cut across him with a growl before he suddenly swung out, punching the dashboard hard with his closed fist.

"IT'S NOT OK!" he barked, closing his opposite hand around Jayde's phone hard enough to crack the screen. He glanced up at Dotcom a moment later, but only for a second before he looked away, shaking his head as he lowered his tone. "I already lost Tre, I can't lose her t-..." his voice cut off as he finally pulled himself out of the Corvette to stand up and shut the door behind him slowly. Just next to him, Dotcom seemed to understand exactly what he was saying and nodded, jerking his head toward the Escalade.

"Then let's get back to the house and figure out another way to find her," he suggested, his tone all professionalism once again, but as he moved to walk off, Joker stayed put, motioning toward the Corvette with his hand.

"You take the Escalade back," he instructed. "I'm gonna drive this one."

Once Dotcom had brought over Joker's phone from the Escalade, he disappeared back into the SUV before pulling from the alley slowly, leaving Joker to sit there in the driver's seat of the Corvette, slowly taking a deep breath in through his nose, running his hands along the steering wheel in front of him, where Jayde's hands had been only twenty hours prior. He closed his eyes, wishing desperately there was some way she could hear him.

_I know you're scared, Jayde...'Cause I am too..._

_ But don't you worry...I'm gonna find you._

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A/N: Ok, so...this story is ending more quickly than I would like, but you guys have been so good about reviews and so adamant about me not leaving you hanging from the edge of my treacherous cliffs (which is really unavoidable at this point) that I want to keep the updates coming. So there's fairly good chance that there will only be another 1-2 chapters before the end. HOWEVER...I still have several one-shots and an 'aftermath' chapter planned so have no fear. This will not be the last of JnJ. Yes, it will be the last FULL story in their saga but they'll always be around in one-shots. By the way, there are several new songs added to the playlist on playlist . Com So go search for The Queen of Mean and hit the playlist for A Matter of Time and check out the new songs. You wont be disappointed. -QoM

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Required reviews before update: TWENTY...seeing how that's how many hours Joker has left in which to find Jayde...


	25. A Matter of Time

A/N: This is an extraordinarily long chapter, about 30 pages, so if you don't have time to read it all in one sitting, I suggest you wait until you can read it all together. So grab some munch-munch and a drink and_ enjoy..._

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As the Joker stepped into the house from the garage after parking the Corvette, he shivered slightly, wishing wildly that he had not left his coat at home before their horrible, enormously unsatisfying chase towards Jayde's phone but before he could walk any further toward the bedroom to go retrieve his gray sweatshirt, he paused at the table, where Dotcom was already sitting, gazing intently down at Jayde's phone. Before they had left the alley where they had found the Corvette, Dotcom had asked Joker for her phone but had not expressed why he needed it. Now, as time seemed to slip away from them at an alarmingly fast rate, Joker felt the need to ask.

"What are you doing?" he asked, rounding the edge of the table toward his usual chair, where he sat down, taking a deep calming breath to try and steady his nerves. Dotcom glanced over, but then stood up and turned from the table, to walk over to the fresh pot of coffee he had just started.

"Well, I looked through her calls to see if I could find the last number she had dialed," he explained, dumping his now cold mug of coffee into the sink. "And I found Charlie's number-..."

At this, Joker cut in, sitting up as another spark of hope shot through him. "Yeah? Did you try putting it in-" he started to ask hopefully, pointing with one finger at the computer monitors, but Dotcom was already shaking his head.

"Yeah, I tried, but his phone is turned off and the battery out, apparently. The number wasn't even showing up between any cell towers in Chicago." he stated remorsefully, now walking back toward the table with not one, but two fresh steaming mugs of black coffee. He placed one in front of Joker before he brought the other to his lips. When Joker looked up with a scowl, about to state his distaste for the beverage, he shook his head. "Trust me, you're gonna want to drink that. You'll feel a lot better after you do."

If Joker had not already been feeling so run-down and admittedly tired, he would have stood right up and gone over to the sink to dump out the coffee, insist he was fine, but seeing how he really was feeling more exhausted both mentally and physically than he had in a long time, he reached out and picked up the mug, taking a small sip before he cringed and set it back down. A moment later, both jumped when a loud knock at the front door broke the silence in the house like a gun shot. Dotcom's eyes grew wide as he looked over to the window and spotted the white and light blue striped Chicago police car parked on the street out front, but Joker was already rising from the table to walk calmly toward the front door. His hand had just reached out for the knob when Dotcom called after him, his voice a hushed whisper.

"Joker! It's the cops!" he warned.

Joker glanced back at him, pausing to roll his eyes before he turned the knob and opened the door, revealing an officer in uniform standing just beyond the threshold, a long, white tube tucked under his arm against his navy blue windbreaker. He nodded silently at the Joker as he stepped into the house, immediately moving toward the carved and cluttered kitchen table, his various instruments clinking quietly against his police belt.

"When was the last you heard from them?" he asked as though he and Joker had already been in the middle of a conversation and he lowered the tube from under his arm to turn it and pull a plastic stopper from the end. Joker was now walking over from locking the deadbolt on the door and he watched as Officer Parker slid several long, wide pieces of paper from the inside of the tube.

"This morning at about 3:30," he answered, glancing down at his watch before he stepped forward to take one end of the giant map of Chicago Parker was now unfurling. "We've only got until 3:30 tomorrow afternoon." he added rather gravely, glancing over to take a few thumb tacks from his 'confidential informant', Chris. The officer nodded and took a step back from the map they had just pinned to the wall behind the table, before he pulled a red permanent marker from the pocket of his navy blue uniform slacks.

"So you said you found her phone in the car at 1600 Washbourne?" he asked, glancing over to Joker, who nodded and watched as Chris leaned forward, circling a small area on the map with the bright red ink. "From what I could find in the system, Charles and Michael Craig live in the apartment building right there." he explained a few moments later, taking a step back to point at a small square on the huge map. Joker shook his head slowly...Why hadn't he thought to kill that little shit before something like this could happen? Ignoring this, he looked over at the officer as Dotcom watched from the other side of the table.

"Did you see any priors on either of them?" Joker asked, watching as Parker walked away from the map and over to the other side of the table, where he picked up several pieces of paper that had been inside the tube with the map.

"Charlie was clean," he answered, shifting one of the papers to the bottom of the three page stack. "But Michael has a couple. 'Drunk and disorderly' back in '01...had a 'resisting arrest' tacked on to that one...Had a possession charge for weed in '03 but it was under an ounce so it was filed as a misdemeanor."

Over by the map, Joker was still staring at the red circle, distractedly tracing the tip of his thumb along the scar on his bottom lip and chin as his mind ran circles around itself. Just that one gulp of coffee had done wonders to help wake him up a bit and as he walked back over to pick up the mug and force himself to drink more of the bitter liquid, he glanced over at Chris.

"Any wea-" he went to ask but the police officer was already on it.

"Weapons? Yeah, looks like he's got a Gloc 23 registered in his name, purchased in June of 2010, though I don't see where..." his voice trailed off as he flipped through the papers but Joker nodded, carrying the mug of coffee back toward the map.

"Gotham, I'm betting," he supplied, rolling his eyes. "He was probably all mad that I blew up his fiance' or whatever..."

"Is that what all this is about?" Parker asked suddenly, setting the papers down to stare somewhat dumbfounded at the Joker. "They're usin' the girl as leverage to get at you?" When Joker nodded, purposely keeping his back to Dotcom and Chris, he heard the officer let out a low whistle. "Damn...Sure would hate to be _those _guys..."

At this, Joker did turn around, gritting his teeth as all the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up, bristling like an angry, territorial pit bull. "You have _no _idea..."

Jayde's eyes blinked slowly, heavily as she idly watched a drop of condensation slide down the outside of her bottle of water, forming a gradually growing ring of moisture around the base against the dark concrete floor. Her entire body felt as though she had been thrown against a wall repeatedly, having been sitting on the ground, leaned against that pipe for who knows how long. The silence in the warehouse was deafening and as Jayde's gaze finally slid past the water bottle, over to the giant windows, her stomach gave a lurch when she noticed that the sun had already started to set, leaving the far side of the long room once again doused in shadows.

At some point, the 'brothers dim' had decided to take turns sleeping, and seeing how Michael was still hopped up on coke, he had decided to take the first shift, leaving Charlie to doze with his back and head rested against the wall behind him. A few feet from him, Michael was fiddling around with his gun, releasing and loading the cartridge over and over, as though the sound of the metal piece sliding into place repeatedly was supposed to worry Jayde. For several minutes, she watched him, glaring at him from the other side of the room, hoping he could feel her gaze burning him.

Over the past 18 hours, Jayde's mind had ventured down hundreds of avenues, but the one place she kept returning was the house on the corner of Lincoln and Platt. Her heart ached so hard it physically hurt when she thought of Joker and where he was, what he was doing, even what he was wearing as he struggled to find a way to locate her. At first, part of her, the less optimistic half of her, had wondered if he was even trying to find her in the first place, thinking that maybe he had just written her off as a loss. But as her mind then took her back to his words from over a year earlier, she had sighed, a slight feeling of bolstering relief washing over her.

"_So when I say that I care about you...you'll know I'm tellin' the truth." _

However...if he did not manage to find her with the thirty-six hours, Jayde at least hoped Michael would allow her one last phone call to him, just so she could tell him she loved him one last time. Jayde choked back tears as she imagined the sound of his deep, gentle voice foolishly telling her not to worry as she sat there with a gun to her forehead.

The hours passed, one by one, more quickly than Jayde would have liked, each one announced methodically by the church bells in the distance, the beautiful, peaceful sound like some highly contradictory alarm, reminding her every sixty minutes that she was one hour closer to either a miraculous rescue or her death. The time had now reached eleven and as the last chime from the church bells echoed off into silence, Jayde's eyes slid across the room to where Charlie was now awake and sitting up against the wall, tracing his finger along the floor in front of him in an almost bored sort of way. She watched him for several long moments, wondering where along the line she could have spotted this coming from him. Yes, she knew that his brother was a hop, skip and a jump from clinically insane and that Charlie liked to complain about him, but never in a million years would she have predicted that he would so corrupt his younger brother into kidnapping and possibly killing a fairly innocent person in order to get back at the Joker for what he had done.

Seeing how Michael had left almost an hour ago to go do god knows what, leaving Charlie alone with their hostage, Jayde's previous train of thought led her to open her mouth.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked bluntly, her gaze hardened and solid as ice as she glared across the room at Charlie, who was now lifting his head to glance over in her direction. He shook his head, standing up to pull a familiar, half -empty pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his sweatshirt.

"Don't talk to me." he said, bringing one of the cigarettes up to light it. Jayde ignored him.

"I mean, why are you letting him _make _you do this?" she asked, suddenly thinking that if she were to get the brothers to start arguing, her window at escape just might widen again. "You're a smart guy. Your brother is-..."

"He's not _making _me do anything," Charlie suddenly snapped, pausing to glance over at her from the opposite side of the room as he ceased pacing for a moment. "The Joker deserves to die for what he did to my brother's wife and Sarah...plus all the other hundreds of people he's killed." At this, he paused, turning to face her as he exhaled a stream of smoke. "You really have no issues with him killing people?" he then asked, his voice laced with high levels of incredulity. Jayde hesitated, unsure of whether she wanted to follow the sudden turn in flow of conversation. A moment later, she looked down.

"It's not my favorite part of him, but..." she paused, sniffing hard as her eyes began to warm with oncoming tears. "I love him. As long as he treats me well, I could care less about-"

"He doesn't even treat you well!" Charlie suddenly shouted, cutting across her as he took a few steps toward her. "How can you love him after everything he's done to you? After what he did to your face?"

Jayde sat up, her eyebrows furrowing as cold chills ran up and down her spine. "He didn't do this to my face!" she screamed back, her voice cracking in her struggle to express her point. "HE SAVED MY LIFE!" Here, she paused, watching as Charlie rolled his eyes and continued pacing the floor. "And he's gonna do it again..." she then added quietly, folding her arms. "...Just watch."

The silence in the house was almost enough to drive Joker past the brink of insanity as he sat there at the cluttered table, staring up at the large map on the wall, his arms folded across his stomach as he chewed anxiously on the inside of his cheek. He was tempted to glance at his watch again, but seeing how it had only been about five minutes since the last time he had, he was betting the time would only stand about 1:35 am and he didn't think he could handle the sight of tangible evidence that he only had about 14 hours left to find Jayde. And yet, there he was, sitting on his ass, as if waiting for some miracle to happen, some window of opportunity to open up.

Dotcom jumped slightly as the front door swung open and there stood Joker in the way, the light spilling onto the patio from around him as he leaned out. Folding his arms across his chest against the cold, he took a step out and gazed out over the dark street beyond the yard. From the burning, itchy sensation he felt on the side of his face, he gathered Dotcom was looking up at him but the moment he looked over to catch him staring, he looked away quickly, taking another drag of his cigarette.

"You really should try and get some sleep, Joker," he put lightly, pointedly keeping his gaze on the yard. "Or at least eat something..." At this, he glanced up but Joker was already shaking his head, turning to face him.

"I'm not tired and I'm not hungry," he growled in reply, but before Dotcom could flick his cigarette out into the yard, he went on. "Are you _sure _there's nothing else we can do-...Nothing else we can try." he asked, but as Dotcom shook his head, he groaned, rolling his eyes. "Come _on, _there's gotta be something!"

"No!" Dotcom answered, finally standing from the chair nearest the door to close the edges of his coat across his chest. "We _have _Jayde's phone, we don't know Michael's and Charlie's is off. There really is nothing else we can do but wait for them to either call or make a mistake."

At this, Joker tossed his hands, shifting where he stood as that anxiety took a turn for the worse. "We can go drive, go look for places that are near their apartment build-" he went to suggest but Dotcom shook his head.

"We can't risk having them call while we're out, away from all this equipment." he shot Joker's idea down with a surprising swiftness but just as Joker was about to open his mouth to suggest something else, Dotcom shook his head, motioning toward the open door behind him with one hand. "No, you need to at least try to sleep. Go lay down with your phone. I'm going to make something for us to eat..." he murmured, forcing his way past Joker and into the house. "Starving ourselves is not gonna bring her back or help us figure anything out." he then added, waiting just inside the house until Joker had walked past him before he shut the door and walked to the kitchen, leaving Joker to trudge back to the bedroom irritably.

With a groan, Joker threw himself onto the bed on his stomach, forcing himself not to take a deep breath in when his face met the place where Jayde usually slept and instead, he held his breath, scrunching up his features against the sheets as he fruitlessly tried to suffocate himself into an epiphany. If only there was someway he could go back in time, back thirty hours ago and just tell Jayde he loved her, even if he didn't mean it, just to keep her at the house. If only he had stopped her, said _something _to prevent her from leaving, even if he had to go out and slash all eight tires on the two vehicles if it meant that she would still be there, safe and laying in bed with him.

As much as he hated to admit it, he had grown horribly and irreversibly attached to that girl and he honestly could not imagine his life without her at this point. There was no way he would have survived the aftermath of Tre's death without her...Ifhe were to lose Jayde, who would help him get through _that?_ This thought dropped another sickening sensation to the bottom of his empty stomach and vaguely he wondered what Dotcom was going to make to eat. At this point, he was beginning to figure that he actually should eat something, just so there would be something in his stomach he could throw up if or when he found Jayde's dead body.

Flipping onto his back, he exhaled heavily into the dark room, practically squeezing his eyes closed in an effort to keep them that way. Through his mind flashed snippets of moments from the past year of his life, echoing clips of Jayde's voice that raised goosebumps along his forearms, even from beneath his warm, long-sleeved shirt.

"_You wouldn't give a shit if someone tried to hurt me...There is no 'getting under your skin', Joker..."_

At this, Joker let out a short laugh, slowly opening his eyes. Oh how wrong she had been in saying that.

Over the next hour, Joker did not spend more than five minutes in any one position, first starting out on his stomach, then on his back, then some awkward, sprawled out position on his side with both legs and arms stretched as far as they would reach across the bed before he eventually gave up and lay there, on his back, his hands folded over his stomach as though he were laying in a casket. It was truly surprising to him how tired he felt physically and yet how alive and ready to go he felt mentally. If Michael were to call right at that second with an address, he would have been up and out the door in less than three seconds flat and would have probably been able to _run_ to the location faster than any car could have taken him...

Just then, Joker jumped up from the bed as the phone beside him began ringing loudly, as though he had known that was about to happen and as he darted out into the living room to the dining table, he glanced down at the screen to find that an unknown, unlisted number was calling. At the stove, Dotcom dropped what he was doing to march over purposefully and begin plugging those cords into Joker's phone so quickly, by the time the phone rang a third time, the tap was all set up again and ready to go, a set of headphones already placed in Dotcom's ears. Joker tried to ignore the trembling of his fingers as he pushed the green button.

"Yeah." he answered, closing his eyes as he awaited a reply. There was silence, before the distinct rushing of a passing car, then a voice.

"Well, it's been twenty-four hours and I _still _haven't seen you yet..." came that horrible, taunting, light-hearted tone from the morning prior. "Does that mean you're giving up on little Jayde?" Again, Joker's arm hair stood on end with goosebumps as he visualized ripping this man's head clean off of his body.

"It means you're really terrible at this 'hostage negotiation' shit," he growled into the phone, finally opening his eyes to glance down to where Dotcom was tapping away furiously at the keyboard, watching the map on the monitor with wide eyes. "You haven't given me anything to go off of so how am I supposed to-"

On the other end of the phone, there was another rushing sound in the background from which Joker gathered that Michael was standing on a street corner somewhere, likely using a pay phone. A moment later, the man sighed as if really annoyed by the whole situation.

"Well, _damn _you're not very good at this whole thing either, Joker. I thought for _sure _you'd have shown up already..." he paused but Joker was distracted momentarily by looking down as Dotcom glanced up at him in confusion, pointing to the screen where about fifty blips had just shown up. He ignored this for the time being and turned his attention back to the call.

"You gotta give me something. Just tell me where she is." he demanded, but went on. "Or better yet, tell me where _you_ are, seeing how she's obviously not with you right now. Jayde can wait. I wanna take care of _you _first..." he growled, practically trembling with rage as that anxiety morphed rapidly into enlivening, refreshing anger. On the other end of the call, Michael was tisk-ing reproachfully before he sighed.

"Well, I'm not going to tell you where I am...OR where your precious little Jayde is. BUT-" he paused, and Joker swallowed the urge to feel hopeful back down. "-maybe if you hear her voice, it will give you an incentive to try a _little _bit harder to find her. I'll call ya back!" he then exclaimed, almost like a friend who needed to leave a lighthearted conversation but before Joker could call out, tell him not to hang up, the line went dead. Immediately, Joker set the phone down and looked at the computer screen bearing the map.

"Did you get anything? Where was he calling from?" he asked urgently but as Dotcom shook his head, he groaned, taking a few steps away into the living room.

"He was calling from an unlisted number, more than likely a pay phone!" he explained, turning to watch as Joker began pacing. "Even if I was to get an exact location on the phone, he would be gone by the time we got there!" Joker turned to face him again and walked over, his eyebrows raised as a bit of hope registered across his features for the fiftieth time.

"Was there anything in the background? Anything besides cars or...busses or whatever?" he asked, watching anxiously as Dotcom turned to the other screen and pulled up some program, but again, he was shaking his head.

"I was magnifying it while you guys were talking and all I got is traffic and static, nothing distinct." he answered but as Joker threatened to storm away again, Dotcom raised his voice. "Just relax! He said he's going to call again so we have another shot. He said he wanted you to hear Jayde's voice so he's obviously going to be wherever they're keeping her. We can try again when he calls."

By now, Joker was standing over by the couch, his back to the living room as he glared through the window and out into the gradually lightening front yard. From the silence behind him, he could tell Dotcom was watching him but he refrained from turning, finding himself unable to move as he thought through his next question.

"What happens if they kill her?" he asked rather quietly, closing his eyes as he imagined the taken back expression on Dotcom's face behind him. The silence stretched on, making Joker feel more anxious and angry for bearing his soul like that in such a simple, honest question but as Dotcom spoke, his eyes slid open again.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice quiet and low from the kitchen table. Finally, Joker turned to face him, unfolding his arms to drop abruptly onto the couch and lean forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I mean, what happens to _me..._if they kill her..." he clarified, forcing his eyes to the white area rug in front of him, where he could picture himself and Jayde play wrestling with each other only a week ago. Across the room, Dotcom was standing up from the table to walk over and drop down into the arm chair to the left of the couch. He sighed through his nose, watching as Joker slowly lifted his eyes to meet him.

"You'll survive," he answered honestly. "-just like you always do. You'll be stronger and more...dangerous for it but...you'll live." Dotcom paused, leaning forward slightly as Joker looked away. "But that's not gonna happen, Joker.." he told him bracingly after a few moments. "We're going to find her."

Jayde jumped as the door to the warehouse swung open, spilling pale blue light onto the concrete floor from around him as the sun had just begun to rise on her second day as a hostage and Michael strode in, sniffing several times as he had apparently just taken another bump of his fresh supply of coke. She was not sure how long it had been but he had been gone most of the night, leaving Jayde alone with Charlie, who had taken it upon himself to sit there and glare daggers at her with that gun rested in his lap, smoking cigarette after cigarette from _her _pack. She watched as Michael walked over to Charlie and sat down next to him with a fat plop.

"Well, it doesn't look like your boyfriend's comin', little lady!" he shouted from across the room with much more volume than was necessary. Jayde rolled her eyes, turning her head to focus on something else, ignore what the idiot brothers were about to start saying. "Yeah, I just talked to 'im!" Despite how hard she was trying to block out Michaels' words, she could not help the pang of ache that shot through her when she thought of how badly she wished she could hear his voice. "Said he can't figure out how to find ya so he said we should just go 'head 'n kill ya!"

At this, Jayde could not stop herself and turned her head back to look over at them. "You're lying!" she called back to him, grinning slightly as she thanked whatever god she believed in for allowing her to be smarter than the Craig brothers. "You need me in order to get him here so you're not gonna kill me before the time is up. This is about Joker, not about me. I'm just a pawn!"

"Ah, I dunno..." Michael called back, shaking his head as he glanced at Charlie. "It sounded to me like he wasn't gonna come! Sounded to me like he doesn't give a rat's ass about what happen-"

"HE IS COMING!" Jayde finally screamed, rising up onto her knees. "He IS gonna come and when he does, you guys are gonna be FUCKED!" Here, she paused, laughing madly as she noticed the taunting, snide expression on Michael's face fade slightly. "He's the fucking JOKER and you're _really _gonna try and kill him? Do you have any idea how many people have tried that same thing and failed? He's gonna FUCK you guys up, I hope you know that."

Michael let out a loud bark of a laugh. "Yeah, yeah, we'll see about that..._If _he makes it on time."

Somehow, for reasons that were beyond him, at around ten, after Dotcom had practically had to physically force Joker to lay down and get some sleep, he managed to eat a few pieces of toast and drink a cup of coffee. He now stood in front of the map, feeling strangely glad that he had managed to get an hour of uninterrupted sleep and had eaten something as he felt leagues better compared to earlier that morning. He felt refreshed, more alert and focused although that insufferable knot of anxiety in his chest had seemingly tripled in size. He now had less than ten hours left to find Jayde and as his eyes scanned the map before him, he paused, glancing back at his phone, which sat still and silent on the table behind him. Michael had not called again and if Joker's predictions were correct, as they typically were, he would not be receiving that call back until he had less than sixty minutes remaining.

Dotcom had been floating in and out of the house for cigarettes every hour, occasionally checking the computer for updates on Charlie's phone, and whether or not it had been turned on. After the third or fourth time, Joker had learned not to even ask as the answer never changed; Charlie's phone was still off, inactive and they were no closer to knowing Jayde's location than they had ever been.

At some point during the earliest hours of the morning, Jayde had somehow managed to capture an hour or two of sleep although it had taken a while to get there, despite the fact that she could barely keep her eyes open. Every time they drifted closed on their own accord, she forced them back open and blinked hard, knowing that if she were to fall asleep and miss a chance at escaping, she would never forgive herself. But after this pattern had repeated itself multiple times and the brothers had not moved from their place on the far side of the warehouse, she had eventually given in and lay down on her side with her back to them, using her arm as a crude and uncomfortable pillow. The ground had been freezing and excruciatingly painful to sleep on but still, she had drifted off to comforting thoughts of her warm, Joker-filled bed at home and how excited she was to get back there.

Yes, Jayde had given up her doubtful thoughts, those horrible, paranoid ideas that maybe Joker _wasn't _coming for her and had replaced them with a hopeful, reassuring mantra. _He is coming for me...He is coming for me... _This helped brighten her outlook on the situation but she could not ignore the tiny tickle of fear that still managed to fester in the very back of her mind. ..._What if he doesn't come for me?_

Joker glanced at his phone as he sat down at the table across from Dotcom and his heart stopped. 3:57. That was it. The time had come, passed and there they still sat, on their asses at the house on the corner of Lincoln and Platt, no closer to an answer than they had been thirty-six hours ago. Dotcom seemed to know what was going on, even without glancing at his own watch and as he looked over at Joker, he shook his head.

"They're not going to kill her," he stated as though he had just established a clean line of communication with Jayde's captors. "They can't, they need her to get to you! They wouldn't kill their only way of luring you-" He had been half-way through a long-winded, encouraging explanation of how Michael and Charlie thought when both jumped as Joker's phone began ringing loudly on the table between them. He reached out immediately, picking it up to push the green button and hold it to his ear, just as Dotcom moved into position at the computers and put the headphones in again.

"You lying sack of shit," Joker growled into the phone right from the start. "You said you were going to call back and now it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm callin' you back now," Michael interrupted. "It's been thirty-six hours and...you still haven't come for your damsel in distress, which I have to admit, is a little disappointing."

Joker ignored this, rising from the table but stayed in place in order to keep the phone connected to the wires. Again, cold chills of apprehension and anger slithered up and down his spine. "You told me you'd let me talk to her but my time is up now. So what do you want? You obviously haven't killed her yet so what-" From the other end of the call, Michael sighed in annoyance.

"Alright, look Joker, this is between you and me. So I'll tell you what- I'm gonna give you another six hours...That leaves it at 10." he explained and Joker rolled his eyes, tossing his arms as he raised his voice.

"Another six hours to do what? Start at street A and work my way to Z? You gotta give me something-" he shouted into the phone, but cut himself short, his heart stopping completely, his insides disappearing altogether as a soft, trembling voice broke through the other end.

"J-Joker?"

"Jayde..." he sighed, closing his eyes as he dropped down into the chair again, leaning forward to rest one elbow on the table as his other hand held the phone to his ear. His heart returned to bang hard against the inside of his chest. "Are you ok?" he asked stupidly, but went on to reword his question. "Are you hurt?"

"No..." she whimpered into the phone, the wobbling, higher-pitched tone of her voice indicating that she had just sunken into tears and Joker closed his eyes with a cringe, fisting his fingers into the front of his hair. "Are you coming to get me?"

At this, Joker opened his eyes, looking over to where Dotcom was now tapping furiously at the keyboard, his eyes wide as he hastily scrolled through something on the computer screen, something that mimicked sound waves.

"'Course I am, Jaydie," he answered, his voice calm and low, desperately trying to comfort her the best he could from over the phone and however many miles that separated them. There was a sniff from the other end of the call where Joker could just picture Jayde trembling and clutching herself...that was of course, if she had not been bound at the wrists and ankles. He swallowed hard, trying to push the image from his mind.

"Please hurry..." she cried quietly but before her voice could be taken away from him, he sat up, his eyes flying open.

"Jayde, what color shirt are you wearing?"

This question was so random, so off-handed that Dotcom looked up from the computer screen, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he frowned up at Joker. His arms rose a second later as though asking 'seriously?'. Joker ignored him, closing his eyes once again as he waited for Jayde's answer, silently hoping, _praying _she understood what he was asking. After several seconds, her voice returned, stammering into her answer.

"...B-black..." She finally replied and Joker stood up from the table, pointing at the computer in a silent command but Dotcom just raised his arms higher, tapping the right headphone in his ear with the end of a pencil. "Please, Joker..._Save_ me."

Joker had just opened his mouth to quickly spit out something comforting when an all-too-familiar male voice in the background broke through, accompanied by rough rustling.

"A'right, a'right, that's enough. You guys can catch up later..." the voice said in the distance, growing louder as Joker assumed Michael brought the phone to his ear. "...That is, of course, if you make it here on time..."

_Click. _

Without wasting even a second of time to get angry or worried, Joker instantly walked to the giant map on the wall, grabbing the red permanent marker as he went but before he could open his mouth or say anything, Dotcom was ripping the headphones from his ears.

"Listen to this!" he cried, rising from the table to reach down, tap his finger against the screen and within seconds, a playback of Joker's voice came through the speakers.

"_-to do what? Start at street A and work my way to Z? You gotta give me something-"_

Joker raised his eyebrows as he glanced from the computer speakers up to Dotcom's wide, excited eyes. "Yeah, that's what I sound like on the phone-" he went to give some shitty, sarcastic answer but Dotcom shook his head, leaning down to type a few things into the keyboard.

"No, listen again! Let me magnify it..."

A moment later, the same clip of sound played again, this time with Joker's voice coming through the speakers at a much lower volume and Joker's heart skipped several beats as the unmistakable sound of church bells began to play loudly through the speakers, ringing out some short tune before they began to chime away the time- one, two, three, four chimes before it quieted again.

"That's-" he started loudly, resisting the urge to start jumping up and down as Dotcom nodded, plopping back down into the chair to begin wildly typing again.

"Yeah! Let me just run it through a database, maybe match the tune to another one so we can find out what chur-" he went to explain but Joker cut over him.

"No! I know what church that is! That's the First Baptist Church off Murray!" he exclaimed, but just as Dotcom was about to stand up, throw his arms in the air and squeal in victory, Joker turned back to the map, uncapping the marker. "Alright, I asked Jayde what color shirt she was wearing and she said black, which doesn't make sense, right? She was wearing a _white _shirt when she left the house. So-..." he was just about to make his point when Dotcom interrupted, rounding the edge of the table toward him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked loudly, his expression suddenly concerned. "Joker, she probably doesn't know-" Joker was shaking his head adamantly as he wrote the word 'black' in the far upper right corner of the map.

"No, no, listen!" he interrupted, glancing down at Dotcom before he turned back to the map. "A few weeks ago, Jayde and I were watching this show on TV about police tactics and about how they ask a random question, then give the first letter of their location in the first letter of their answer. So since Jayde was wearing a _white _shirt, but said it was _black, _that means that the first letter of the street she's on is 'B'. Now..." As Joker drew a circle around the small square that was the First Baptist Church of Greater Chicago, Dotcom still stood next to him, shaking his head.

"Joker..." he started but Joker ignored him.

"SO," he started loudly, purposely cutting over Dotcom. "Those church bells can probably be heard for about three miles in all directions, so if we..." he paused to draw a large circle around the smaller circle. "-hit all the streets within three miles of the church that start with the letter B-..." Again, he paused to circle five intersections on the map before he turned to Dotcom, his eyebrows furrowed as a different thought came to him. "Did you hear what she said? At the end before they hung up, she said 'please _save _me'."

Dotcom shrugged, shaking his head as he grew further and further away from following Joker's line of logic. " I don't-..." For the third time, Joker ignored him and turned back to the map, reaching up to write the word 'Save' in big letters beneath 'Black'.

"Why would she have said 'save'?" he asked, clearly speaking now more to himself than Dotcom as he tapped his chin contemplatively with the end of the marker. "Wouldn't it make more sense to say 'please come _get _me'? Or...'please find me'?...But she said '_save'..._" At this, he turned from the map and looked down at Dotcom. "Can you play that part back? When she said that?"

Surprisingly, instead of hesitating to ask where Joker was going with this particular train of thought, Dotcom immediately went back to the computers and tapped the screen, pausing before Jayde's terrified, trembling voice came through the speakers.

"_Please, Joker...Save me." _

Across from Dotcom, Joker had his eyes closed, his hands rested on the table as he leaned down on them, listening closely. He shook his head. "Again."

_"Please, Joker...Save me." _

At this, he stood up, opening his eyes as he pointed at the speakers. "Can you isolate just her voice? Cut out the background noises?" he asked, then watched as Dotcom nodded, leaning forward to type a few things into the keyboard before he hit the 'enter' button. A moment later, Jayde's voice came through again, stronger, louder than the time before.

"_Please, Joker...Sev me..."_

Instantaneously, Joker clapped his hands together in triumph as Dotcom shook his head in disbelief, his eyes fixed on the computer.

"My god..." he breathed, standing up from the table as Joker turned back to the map, his eyes scanning the paper rapidly as he reached up to write something beneath the words 'black' and 'save'.

"Alright, so we're looking for a seven-hundred number on a street that starts with B-." He was saying, tapping the marker against the map to leave five red dots in the middle of the five circles he had already outlined, but as he looked over to Dotcom, he frowned when he noticed that his nerd had disappeared. As he turned, Dotcom reappeared, applying his coat as he pulled his laptop from the table. He was grinning as he walked toward the garage door to open it and step out.

"So let's go!" he called over his shoulder and Joker moved to follow, but hesitated before stepping out.

"Hold on," he called out into the garage where Dotcom was now climbing into the driver's seat of the Escalade. "I gotta get something first."

After retrieving his black coat from the bedroom to apply it over his black, long-sleeved shirt, Joker walked through the living room, past the table and kitchen, over to the door to Tre's old room, where he turned the knob and stepped inside. At the dresser in the closet, Joker pulled open the top drawer, his heart skipping several beats, his stomach clenching up in excitement as his eyes fell down onto his favorite knife, resting clean and beautifully on a bed of purple material. He pulled it from the drawer without question and tucked it into the pocket of his coat, thinking quickly back to his very first birthday and the perfect woman who had given it to him...he could not wait to thank her in person.

Jayde could feel Charlie's gaze burning her as she struggled with great effort to quiet her tears from the recent phone conversation with Joker. When Michael had handed her the phone, she had first thought hearing his voice might do her some good, make her feel slightly better about her situation, possibly encourage her to not lose hope but of course the moment he had said her name, she had burst into strong tears that caused her entire body to tremble. He had sounded so calm and collected yet weary as she was assuming he had been going without sleep for the past near on 40 hours now and she wished with everything she had she could have seen his face, touched him, something to convince him that he was not going through all of this in vain. Her love for him had never been so strong as it was at that very moment, which was now making her efforts to stop crying near impossible. She jumped as Michaels' harsh voice shouted from the other side of the warehouse.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled, his voice echoing slightly. "Sniveling like a baby isn't going to make him find you faster, ya know."

Next to his brother, Charlie was shaking his head, leaning forward to rest his forehead on his knees as he sat leaned against the wall. He had been unusually quiet since the call to Joker over two hours ago and as the sun began to set beyond the windows above them, Jayde could just make out two dark rings of exhaustion beneath his eyes, behind his glasses. Her efforts from earlier to force some sort of rift between the brothers had not been for nothing; he seemed to be growing more and more tired of Michael's voice and excessive use of cocaine by the second.

A moment later, Michael stood up, sniffing heavily as he wiped bit of excess white powder away from beneath his nose with the sleeve of his shirt and he made a bee-line toward Jayde, his expression fixed and manic as he approached. Jayde whimpered in fear, backing into the pipe behind her as he closed in and leaned down less than a foot from her.

"Now listen here, girly," he growled, his voice shaking with false adrenaline from the drugs in his system. "I'm gonna run out to do _one _thing...If your _boyfriend _isn't here by ten o'clock, I _will _shoot you, understand?"

Jayde's breath was now escaping through her nose in ragged, short intervals but as she nodded her understanding up at Michael, he abruptly stood and walked away, barking the same announcement at Charlie, who merely rolled his eyes and nodded, waving the gun to indicate that he had things under control. Jayde then watched as Michael walked jumpily to the door before he stepped out into the freezing night air and disappeared down the stairs.

_Please, Joker...Please find me..._

Dotcom looked back from the steering wheel as Joker jumped back into the Escalade from the fourth stop on their list of street names and he immediately pulled away from the curb as Joker sighed, running his hand anxiously through the front of his messy green hair. Number 17 Brower street had held nothing but a crack den, 1700 Broadway avenue had been an enormous let down as well, as the lot where the building that formerly stood there had been demolished. All of Bratting street had been a complete waste of nearly two hours as Joker ran from building to building, peering in through all the windows before sprinting back to the car and now, as they pulled away from the curb of Begonia street, Joker glanced down at the list in his hand...Only one location remained and if Jayde wasn't there...he really wasn't sure _what _he was going to do.

It was fortunate that Blackburn street was so close to Begonia as the time now stood at 9:37 and Joker's knee could not have been bouncing faster if he had tried. From up in the front seats, Dotcom was saying something so Joker turned his head to listen, forcing his ears past the sound of his own pounding heartbeat to focus on what Dotcom had to say.

"Alright, this is...our last stop so...if you were right, she should be here...right?" he finished his statement in the form of a question, glancing back into the middle seats of the SUV to where Joker had once again turned his head to peer out through the heavily tinted window as they passed the street sign, bearing the name 'Blackburn St. 700'. His heart leapt up into his throat; this _had_ to be the street she had hinted to him.

The entire length of Blackburn street was dark, no streetlights, no other cars, every window completely black save for one building on the left of the road, down at the very distant end of the street. Joker felt his blood pressure rising as he reached forward, into the leather pouch along the back of the passenger seat before him, pulling from within it's depths a wonderfully familiar, silver Desert Eagle 50 cal. The cartridge made the most satisfying noise as Joker slid it out before back in, double checking that it had already been loaded with enough bullets to thoroughly destroy both brothers. The Escalade was approaching the building at the end although despite how badly Joker wished Dotcom would flat out floor the pedal, he was grateful that he was taking it at a normal speed and that he had turned off the headlights...The element of surprise was not only crucial but always vastly more fun.

As the SUV pulled up along the curb outside the three story, run down warehouse, Joker leaned to the side, the hair along the back of his neck raising as a white van pulled up ahead of them, shutting off it's headlights as it came to a stop, just next to the curb and Joker watched, his entire body practically vibrating in anticipation as a shorter, stocky man got out of the driver's side and stepped out onto the sidewalk, pausing momentarily to turn and lock the vehicle behind him. Without even a look at his face, without any solid confirmation whatsoever, the Joker was positive beyond all doubt that this was the man with whom he had been conversing over the past 40 hours. He took one moment to take a deep, steadying breath in before he slid to the left seat and opened the door, keeping his eyes fixed on his target as he slid noiselessly from the Escalade and silently shut the door behind him.

Along the south side of the building ran a tall, rickety set of stairs, which creaked and groaned as Michael began to climb them and as Joker trotted after him silently through the darker shadows, his shoulders hunched like a stalking lion, he leaned down, grabbing a fist full of rocks from the gravel drive before he threw them, hard, off into the distance beyond the stairs.

Halfway up the steps, Michael stopped, his drug-induced hyper-vigilance picking up the sounds of movement below him but as he peered out into the darkness, the Joker was already slinking up the steps behind him, sliding that birthday knife from the back pocket of his jeans. Over the next two seconds, several things happened simultaneously, in almost complete silence.

The Joker's right arm reached out quickly, wrapping around Michael's arm before his hand reached to the other side to catch the other one and lock him tightly into place while his left hand brought the knife to his throat. Even one step below him, he was still taller than his newest victim and his teeth were bared in a terrible, livid grin as he laughed, breathlessly, cruelly in Michael Craig's ear. The man in front of him gasped, his voice suddenly more shaky and leagues less bold than it had been on the phone earlier.

"J-Joker?" he stammered, turning his head slightly to try and see over his shoulder and he struggled at first, but as Joker brought his knife more closely to Michael's throat, he held perfectly still. Behind him, Joker was still laughing excitedly, madly as that familiar, thrilling sense of power began to spread through him.

"Oh..." he started in a falsely disappointed voice. "And here I was, wanting to keep it a surprise..." Here, he paused to laugh again, giggling in Michael's ear as he leaned forward. "You didn't _really _think you'd get away with this, did you?" he went on to ask, cocking his head tauntingly as he watched the side of Michael's now pale white face. "_Did you?" _he asked again, shaking him slightly as his rage threatened to burst out of him. Before him, Michael's mouth seemed to have gone extraordinarily dry as he swallowed several times from beneath Joker's knife.

"You killed my Alicia..." he practically whispered, his entire body trembling now in what Joker considered hilarious fear and he nodded, making a sad noise through his nose as though Michael's story had really touched his heart.

"Aww...Well don't worry...you'll be seeing her soon.." he then growled into his ear, laughing as he pushed Michael forward, onto the next step toward the door to the warehouse. "Now let's go inside, shall we? I want your baby brother to watch you die..."

Jayde's head shot up from rested on her knees as the sound of the door being thrown open echoed like a clap of thunder through the entire warehouse and heart leapt up into her throat as her savior, her love, her hero, the Joker forced Michael into the room ahead of him, a familiar knife clutched in his hand against her captor's throat. She pulled herself up onto her knees, her heart instantly banging away inside her chest as Charlie jumped up from his place across the room to run out into the open. He immediately raised the gun in his hands, although even from where she was sitting, Jayde could see how visibly his hands were shaking.

"LET HIM GO!" he shouted, his voice cracking slightly from the strain of trying to sound as threatening as possible. Jayde's eyes darted quickly across the room to where Joker had just tightened his grip around Michael's arms and she felt a thrill of excitement shoot through her when she saw Joker dig his knife harder against the front of his throat.

"Now, see? You took something from _me..._So I took something from _you!" _he stated, his voice clowny and bouncy as he laughed, glancing to his right at the side of Michael's now terrified, white face. "_Funny_ world we live in, isn't it?" he asked, his voice only barely audible as he spoke closely to the side of Michael's head, his eyes sliding across the room to Jayde's where he winked quickly, just barely noticeably and she could not help but allow a tiny grin onto her face. "We try _so _hard to make things right, try _so _hard to get even...Only to end up losing _everything..."_

"NO!" Charlie suddenly screamed from across the room, lurching forward a few steps as Joker suddenly stabbed Michael in the side of his neck as deep as the knife would go, before he twisted it hard, using his other hand on the opposite side of Michael's head to force the knife further into his thick neck. Normally, Jayde would have looked away or closed her eyes, but instead, she watched, wide-eyed, in pure ecstasy as Joker then threw Michael's gagging, draining body onto the floor beside him. He leaned down a moment later, reaching his left hand out to lazily wipe the man's blood from his knife and black glove, onto his dirty white shirt in an almost bored sort of way.

Jayde was so busy watching the blood drain slowly from Michael's quickly dying body that she nearly failed to notice Charlie approaching Joker until he was only about twenty feet from him, but just as she was about to scream out his name, warn him to look up, Charlie was already pulling back the slide on his now dead brother's gun, his entire body shaking visibly now as he raised his arm to aim directly at Joker. He rose slowly from the body, his face still livid and alive with malicious evil as he stared Charlie down and took a slow step to the side, away from Michael's body.

"Now, Charles, let's be grown men about this..." he started, slowly raising both hands to either side of his body as he held his knife delicately between his thumb and forefinger. "I'm sure Jayde wont mind if we share-"

"SHUT UP!" Charlie suddenly screamed, shaking the gun at Joker as he took another step closer. "You have NO idea what you did to my brother's life! What you did to MY life because of it! You ruin everything you touch, you worthless piece of SHIT!" At this, Joker's forehead wrinkled in a frown and he dropped his arms to his sides abruptly.

"Words can _hurt, _ya know..." he grumbled but again Charlie shook the gun, blinking hard from behind his glasses as he struggled to see through his tears.

"Yeah, and so can bullets." he then answered in a surprisingly calm voice. Jayde held her breath, her eyes wide with both relief and yet staggering, blinding fear as she watched Joker become slightly cornered. Charlie nodded his head toward Joker. "I know you have a gun with you so just take it out slowly, show it to me." he paused, but when Joker made no move, he shouted again. "NOW!" Jayde silently begged Joker to move, obey Charlie just for right now and she watched, holding her breath. Joker was frowning slightly as he held out his hand with the knife and slowly reached behind him with the other one, under the edge of his shirt before he drew out his silver Desert Eagle and held it up. Charlie wiggled the gun again, pointing it at the floor. "Dump all the bullets out on the ground."

Jayde watched as Joker took another step to the side, her heart racing so fast, she felt slightly lightheaded as he released the cartridge from the handle of the gun before he slid it out and began pushing the bullets from the clip with his thumb, one by one, each one making a light tinking noise as it hit the concrete floor. Once empty, he held it up and showed the empty clip to Charlie before he pushed it back into the gun and leaned down, resting the now unloaded gun on the floor a foot or two in front of him.

It seemed now that Charlie was struggling with what to do as he kept looking over at his brother's lifeless body as though expecting him to give him further instruction. Joker seemed to pick up on this and glanced from the body to Charlie.

"You really sad he's dead?" he asked, his voice suddenly somewhat quiet as he took a step back from Charlie while he was looking over at his brother. Jayde noticed this, but was still holding her breath, hoping beyond all hope that Joker was not about to make any snide or mean remarks to the only person in the room with a gun at this point. "He seemed like a total di-"

"Shut up!" Charlie screamed again, raising the gun to aim more accurately at the center of Joker's chest. "You don't know ANYTHING!" Across from him, Joker shrugged, glancing to the side as though he understood a bit more than he was letting on.

"Well, I saw enough to know that despite how much you disliked your brother, you sure followed him around like a little bitc-"

"JOKER! SHUT UP! PLEASE!"

Both men turned to look as Jayde's panic-ridden, hoarse scream split the air in the warehouse, and she glanced from Charlie to Joker and back again, her bright blue eyes brimming with tears and fright as Charlie suddenly turned back to Joker, his arm once again holding the gun straight out, shakily. At this, Joker smirked, squinting slightly as his eyes locked onto Charlie's and he cocked his head to the side, taking another slow step to the left, continuing his gradual circle.

"He's not gonna shoot me, Jayde..." he growled, shaking his head slowly as he kept his eyes fixed solely on Charlie. "He doesn't have the _stomach _for it, no _heart..._No guts...No _brother_ to tell him what to-..."

A loud, deafening gun shot seemingly shook the entire building and Jayde screamed loud enough to tear her vocal cords clean in half as she watched the Joker clutch his chest and fall backward, seemingly in slow motion, landing on his right side, his arms strewn out in front of him, that memorable birthday knife still rested under his left, motionless hand. Another scream left Jayde as she fell forward on her knees, those tears from earlier streaming down her face. There was no reason to live anymore, she had absolutely no reason for wanting to stay alive and as Charlie walked toward his lifeless brother slowly, lowering the gun to his side as he went, she almost cried out after him to beg him to come back and shoot her as well, put her out of her misery. Instead, she rested her head on the concrete in front of her, sobbing deep, painful breaths of air as she fought hard to keep herself from looking over to where the Joker's body now lay across the room from her on the floor.

A few moments, or maybe years later, she sat up, her chest heaving, her frizzy hair stuck to her tear-streaked face as she looked over through the blur to where Charlie was kneeling over his brother, the black gun now laying on the floor behind him. For a split second, Jayde considered jumping up to run toward it, grab it from the ground before pulling the trigger and ending Charlie's life, but before she could even get her brain functioning enough to move her numb legs, Charlie was already rising slowly from his brother's body, leaving the gun behind on the floor as he walked slowly toward the back of Joker's body.

Jayde watched through the haze, her chest heaving as Charlie knelt down behind the Joker, reaching out with his left hand to brace himself on the floor in front of Joker while his right hand reached out, placing two fingers against his neck, clearly to feel for a pulse, even though it was painfully obvious to both that the Joker had finally met his end. But just as Jayde closed her eyes to lean her head back in absolute utter defeat, she jumped when Charlie suddenly let out a shout.

Across the room, on the floor, the Joker had just reached out with his right hand, pinning Charlie's wrist to the ground in front of him before he swung out with his left hand, digging that knife into Charlie's neck as he turned over onto his back. Joker was immediately on his feet again, as though he had just risen from the dead and Jayde watched, her mouth hanging open as Joker walked slowly after Charlie, who was now crawling away on one hand and his knees through the scattered bullets on the floor, his other hand up against his neck, trying desperately to stem the free flowing blood. Joker seemed to find this funny as he stalked after him, and he laughed, more loudly than Jayde had ever heard before, his voice echoing deeply in the warehouse.

"DID YOU FORGET WHO I AM?" Joker shouted at Charlie's back who was now nothing more than a wounded animal. He closed in, using the heel of his shoe to kick Charlie onto his back where he lay still, gasping and gurgling as he stared up into the demonic, evil brown eyes of the Joker. Somewhere along the way, he had picked up his Desert Eagle and was now pulling back the slide, before he aimed down at Charlie's forehead. "I'm the Joker." he then stated, his scars stretching widely in a smile. "And there's _always _one in the chamber."

With that, Joker fired the single remaining bullet from his gun, sinking the giant, fifty-caliber bullet into Charlie's forehead and instantly, he was still, dead, growing gradually colder. Across the room, Jayde was shaking more violently than she ever had before in her life, watching through her tears as Joker leaned down, placing his knife at the very corner of Charlie's motionless mouth before he dragged the blade upward to his ear before doing the same on the other side and once satisfied, he stood up, placing his gun quickly into the back lining of his jeans.

Jayde sobbed, holding out her bound hands to him as Joker ran across the room toward her, sliding to his knees in front of her, his hands reaching out for her face where he pulled her closer and met her lips firmly with his, however the pain of her still broken and excruciatingly tender face caused her to cry out and pull away. Her hands remained closed tightly around the front of his shirt as she cried.

"Jo-...Jo-..." she tried to speak through her near hysterical tears, watching through the blur as he quickly brought his knife down, easily but carefully slicing through the duct tape until her wrists were released. Despite how weak she felt, Jayde threw herself into his arms, sobbing against his neck as he wrapped one arm tightly around her back, his other hand smoothing her hair down the back of her head.

"Jayde, it's ok...I'm here...You're safe..." he murmured against her hair, closing his eyes as he held her as close as humanly possible but as she pulled back, only to melt against him, she reached out, placing both of her hands on either side of his handsome, scarred face.

"I th-thought you were...dead, Joker..." she could barely speak through her tears of relief but as Joker laughed, she did the same, weakly.

"Well, I had to make it look _convincing..._" he answered, bouncing his eyebrows as Jayde broke down into another bout of tears, dropping her hands to his chest as though aching to feel his heartbeat, know for sure that he really was alive. Joker leaned forward, reaching out more gently this time as he placed his hands on either side of her jaw, to tilt her face up toward him and soak in the appearance of her perfect blue eyes, watching as a few more tears leaked from the corners to travel down her bruised and dirty cheeks. She shook her head a moment later, reaching up to rest her hands on his strong upper arms.

"Joker, I'm so sorry," she started, her voice now level but hoarse and raspy from strain. "I should have never lef-" Suddenly she pulled her left hand away from his right arm when she felt something warm and sticky against her fingers and she gasped as she noticed bright red, shiny blood coating her skin. "He shot you! Are you-"

"Jayde, I love you."

These three words were almost more deafening to Jayde than either gunshot had been and as she met his eyes, she was surprised to find him staring back at her, his gaze focused intently on hers.

"Y-you do?" she asked, almost as if she had not heard him correctly, but Joker laughed quietly and inched toward her, nodding his head as he took her hands in his.

"Yeah," he answered. "I do."

Jayde's nose wrinkled in another bout of fresh tears as she reached up, lightly placing her hand against his chest.

"I love you too, Joker." she answered _finally_ and as Joker looked up from where his gaze had settled on her hand rested in his, he squinted slightly, tilting his head to the side.

"...Promise?"

"I promise."

With that perfect, cheeky smirk tugging upward on his left scar, Joker leaned forward, pulling Jayde gently toward him until their lips met and he sighed against her, suddenly realizing that yeah...he was in love...and he didn't give a _shit _who knew about it or how uncharacteristic it seemed. With Jayde practically in his lap, he pulled back, reaching up to lightly tuck a bit of her frizzy hair behind her ear before he met her eyes, smiling as she gazed lovingly back up at him.

"You wanna go home, or what?" he asked, smirking down at her as she nodded her reply and as he stood from the cold concrete floor, to gently scoop her up with him, Jayde kept her hand clamped tightly around his.

It had taken a while, they had been through more than just about any other couple on earth, but he had finally said those three little words to her and as Jayde followed him to the door of the warehouse, she grinned to herself...She had always known it was only A Matter of Time...

The Beginning

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A/N: Yes, boys and girls, this marks the end of the JnJ saga. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it over the past three years. Joker and Jayde will always be my favorite FF couple and I hope they have secured a place in your hearts as well. = ] Thank you all SOOOO much for the outstanding support you have shown me and my stories over the past three years. I could not have finished it without your help and love. HOWEVER, I have one last request of you. PLEASE, leave me a review on this last chapter and just let me know what you thought, share with me a couple of your favorite moments from all three stories!_ If you doooo...I just might have one more little surprise up my sleeve._... ; ] -QoM


	26. The Aftermath

A/N: Alright, so...I felt like I left a few things open at the official end of this story and felt like I should maybe go a bit further, show what happened directly after, so without further ado, here is The Aftermath. Warning: Fluff. (I feel its a little overdue after the angsty last couple of chapters) Enjoy! = ]

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As Jayde followed Joker out onto the rickety metal stairs from inside the warehouse, she gasped quietly, shivering as she had almost forgotten what season it was and how cold the air beyond the confines of that giant room still was. If her hand had not still been clutching the Joker's as tightly as she could manage, she would have folded her arms across her chest but as he paused at the top of the stairs, to turn and look down at her, she tilted her head back, squinting slightly as he stood in front of a bright floodlight behind him. He was grinning, so Jayde grinned back, although she was not quite sure yet what they were supposed to be smiling about. A moment later, Joker glanced to the side, down the stairs before he looked back to her.

"If you want, I can carry you down," he offered, shrugging slightly as Jayde arched an eyebrow. "Ya know, just to make it look more dramatic?"

At this, Jayde laughed, shivering more strongly now as a gust of wind blew around the corner of the three story building beside them and she shook her head. "No, it's alright." she answered, finally relinquishing her grip on Joker's hand to instead wrap her fingers around his forearm. "I think I can manage but you go ahead of me just in case."

As Joker went down the stairs in front of her, slowly, Jayde kept her hand out and rested on his uninjured shoulder, keeping her eyes focused on each step she took, seeing how her legs felt like frozen rubber bands from having been sitting for so long. But as they approached the last few steps before they hit solid ground, Jayde glanced up, only to frown when she noticed the white van, but no other vehicles parked at the curb.

"How did you get here?" she asked confusedly, once again grabbing Joker's hand as she stepped down onto the gravel walkway and just beside her, she glanced up when she felt Joker look down at her before he shrugged, looking away pointedly.

"Oh, I had a ride..." he answered, but almost as soon as the words had left his mouth, Jayde's eyes spotted the huge, black Escalade off to the right, a familiar red-head leaned against the hood. In an instant, she had let go of Joker's hand and run over to throw her arms around Dotcom's shoulders, sniffling and laughing quietly as she allowed a few tears of happiness to leak from the corners of her eyes into the collar of his coat. Despite the fact that his former boss was watching, Dotcom was doing the same and as Jayde stepped back after a few long seconds, he laughed, reaching up with both hands to push his glasses up into his hair and wipe his eyes. Across from him, Jayde was shaking her head, glancing up at Joker, who had just walked over before she looked back to Dotcom.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, grinning wildly as Dotcom shrugged.

"Well, when he called and said you were missing, I drove down here to help him find you!" he exclaimed, clearly not even trying to hide his normally flamboyant tendencies around the Joker anymore. "And then when-" he had been about to continue but Joker interrupted with a groan, looking over at both of them from where he had been poking gingerly at the wound on his upper arm.

"Hey, in case you guys didn't notice, I'm kinda _shot _over here, so...can we go?" he asked, raising his eyebrows as he glanced from Jayde to Dotcom and back again and after both had laughed, Dotcom moved to climb back into the driver's seat. For a second, it appeared as though Joker were about to walk around to get in on the passenger side, but just as Jayde's heart was about sink slightly, she grinned to herself when he merely moved to open the door to the back seats for her, pausing to wait for her to get in before he followed. But instead of stopping to lower herself into one of the single, middle seats, Jayde continued to the back to plop down onto the bench, hoping wildly that Joker would follow. A moment later, an almost unfamiliar sense of warmth spread over Jayde as Joker sat down just next to her and immediately raised his uninjured arm to wrap around her shoulders.

The ride back to the house at the corner of Lincoln and Platt was spent in almost complete silence as it seemed the weight of recent events had set in and as Jayde sat curled up against Joker's side with both of her legs rested over his knee, she closed her eyes against his chest, unable to fathom how unbelievably lucky she had gotten. While she had absolutely no desire to even begin thinking through everything that had happened over the past two days, she could not ignore the overwhelming sense of relief she felt at the feel of Joker's cheek rested gently against the top of her head and the gentle sensation of his fingers tracing light patterns along her shoulder. It seemed, after a few minutes when Joker turned his head to press his lips against her forehead and leave a soft kiss, that he was feeling some of that same relief and Jayde smiled, bringing her other hand up to rest against his warm chest.

Fifteen minutes later, the Escalade was just bouncing into the driveway at the house when Jayde opened her eyes and lifted her head, blinking a few times as she took in her surroundings and as she recognized where she was, that sensation of relief grew into something almost uncontainable. She never could have imagined being so happy so see such a simple sight and as Joker let out a quiet sigh beside her, she figured that he was feeling fairly happy himself to be returning home with two people versus only one.

But as the Escalade came to a stop in the driveway and Jayde sat up to move forward and climb out, she hesitated when she felt Joker reach out and wrap his fingers around her wrist, holding her in place. She looked back at him, frowning slightly in confusion, but as his eyes slid past her to where Dotcom was now getting out of the car, she figured he was waiting until they were alone to say what he wanted. A moment later, once the car door had closed behind Dotcom, she looked back to Joker, watching anxiously as his gaze flickered back and forth between her eyes in that wonderfully characteristic manner. He seemed to be hesitating with whatever was on the tip of his tongue so in an effort to help coax it out of him, Jayde leaned toward him, lightly pressing her lips against his to kiss him as gently as possible before she pulled back only slightly. Joker sighed quietly, his breath warm against her lips.

"I'm really glad you're alive," he murmured finally in one of those simple, genuine admission of his feelings, something Jayde had come to recognize as easily one of her favorite things about him and she grinned, leaning in to kiss his lips one more time.

"I am too," she answered with a quiet giggle and Joker had just smirked, opening his mouth with every intention of replying but both jumped a second later when a loud knock on the windshield tore their attention away from each other. On the other side of the glass, Dotcom was standing there, his eyebrows raised as he clutched his coat about himself, apparently freezing to death as he had been unable to get inside the house without a key. Turning back to Joker momentarily, Jayde laughed when he rolled his eyes and moved forward.

"_This _fuckin' guy..." he growled, wincing when his arm gave a sharp stab of pain as he climbed his way through the Escalade behind Jayde.

At the front door to the house, both men stopped to let Jayde in ahead of them but as she stepped into the warm confines of the comforting home, she stopped, her eyes immediately falling onto the cluttered kitchen table, where the computers, monitors and sound equipment were sitting, still on and running. Across the room, Dotcom was now closing the door behind them and as Joker walked up to glance down at her face, Jayde's eyes traveled up to the giant map on the wall, where she immediately spotted the words 'BLACK', 'SAVE' and '700', all written in red ink, in Joker's characteristic, all-caps handwriting. A slow grin mounted her face as she pointed up at the map with one finger, turning her head to look up at Joker.

"Pretty smart of me, huh?" she asked, giggling as Joker nodded, but just as he was about to open his mouth to reply verbally, his smirk dropped quickly into a frown. It seemed now that they were standing in proper light, he was only just noticing the angry purple bruise along her high, left cheekbone and he reached up with both hands, placing one one of them on the opposite side of her face while his other fingers lightly traced the bruise.

"What did he hit you with?" he asked, his brown eyes narrowed and focused on the trail his thumb was taking along her cheek. At this, Jayde felt a slight weight drop into her stomach as Joker forced her to think back to when she had turned to find Michael standing just behind her against the inside of the door to Charlie's apartment. She exhaled slowly through her nose as Joker's eyes met hers.

"A baseball bat." she answered flatly, but watched as Joker sighed and pressed gently but firmly against her cheek bone. But as Jayde whimpered and pulled her face away from him, he grunted disapprovingly, tsk-ing with his tongue against the inside of his teeth.

"Yeah, it's broken," he stated, glancing at Dotcom as he walked past them into the kitchen. He looked back to Jayde a moment later before he nodded toward the hallway leading to the bedroom and bathroom. "Go take a shower then come out here and put ice on your face." he instructed, dropping his arms to his sides before he took a half step back, but by now, Jayde was frowning as she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted playfully up at him.

"Why should I shower first?" she asked, her tone carrying a hint of mock offense at his implication. "Do I stink or something?"

Across from her, Joker leaned down, placing his hands on his knees to be more at her level as she stood with her hip to one side and he leaned forward but only to put his lips a few inches from hers before he puckered them, just barelykissing the tip of her bottom lip.

"Yes."

At this, Jayde scoffed, pushing him away playfully as he laughed but before she turned to march toward the bathroom indignantly, she swung out, swatting him on the arm, purposely hitting just a few inches below his slowly oozing wound. Joker groaned loudly in response, swinging out quickly to smack her on the ass as she walked away and he smirked as she squealed, hopping forward a step or two before tossing a pretend scowl over her shoulder at him. Beside Joker, Dotcom had just walked over from the kitchen and was now shaking his head slowly, staring up at the foolish, almost boyish grin on his former boss' face as he watched Jayde disappear into the bathroom.

"You are so retarded..." he mumbled a moment later, grinning as he turned to the kitchen table to begin turning off the monitors and computers. With a new scowl, Joker turned quickly to face him but only to roll his eyes before he walked past him and over to the open door leading into Tre's bedroom.

He emerged a few minutes later, holding a large white box, which he dropped heavily onto the table with a loud clunk, causing Dotcom to jump before he looked over from the computers. Joker then leaned forward on the table, grinning widely.

"Since _you _called me retarded, _you _get to play nurse and help me clean and dress this _hole _in my arm." he growled, his grin expanding slightly as Dotcom rolled his eyes and stood up, but he did not immediately open the first aid kit and instead walked over to the stove, where a large pot of beef and vegetable soup was now simmering away.

"Fine, just let me make Jayde a bowl of this first," he said, reaching up into the one of the cabinets to pull down three bowls. "I'm sure she's absolutely starving."

Since Joker figured he was probably right and admittedly felt rather hungry himself, he waited and went about slowly pulling his uninjured arm from the long sleeve of his black shirt, before he pulled the neck up and over his head, now leaving just his bleeding arm still inside the remaining sleeve. The pain was now reaching down into his fingertips as the fabric rubbed against the open wound but he ignored this the best he could and sat down in his usual chair, pulling that white first aid kit toward him. Inside sat a whole array of medical necessities, from gauze to alcohol, band-aids and even a sterile needle and roll of surgical sutures. Joker eyed these last objects with slight distaste. If there was one thing he hated more than giving himself stitches, it was trying to sit still while someone who had never sewn a thing a day in their life tried to do it. Seeing how Jayde and Dotcom both fell under this category, he sighed, figuring he might as well wait and see the damage first.

After clearing most of the computer equipment from the table so he could set a place for Jayde opposite what was now resembling an operating room, Dotcom walked back over and was just about to reach out to put on a pair of latex gloves when Joker shook his head, backing up slightly as he pointed toward the sink.

"Go wash your hands first," he instructed. "I'm not trying to get this infected."

Dotcom rolled his eyes heavily as he turned from the table and walked to the sink to turn on the water. "Gay _isn't _contagious, ya know..." he grumbled, smirking to himself as Joker snorted a laugh from over by the table.

"Ya never know, mate...Ya never know."

After scrubbing his hands and under his nails with the antibacterial soap at the sink, Dotcom had just finished drying with a paper towel when he walked back to the table and held up his now now clean hands.

"So what do I do first?" he asked brightly, as though about to embark on an ambitious 'paint by numbers' endeavor and Joker paused, glaring up at him for a moment or two before he pointed to the box of latex gloves on the table.

"Put some gloves on..." he instructed, his voice light as though talking a child through their first experience with a glue stick and glitter. He watched as Dotcom did exactly that and once his hands had been placed inside the tight, sterile latex, he nodded his head toward the open box of implements. "Alright, now grab those scissors and...gotta cut my sleeve off."

At this, Dotcom hesitated, his eyes traveling over the soft, black material still covering Joker's arm before he tisked rather sadly as though it truly pained him to have to ruin such a nice shirt.

"Why do I have to cut it?" he asked. "Why can't you just take it off?"

Joker growled in irritation as that pain continued to throb down his arm. "'Cause it _hurts!" _he snapped, but then sighed, closing his eyes impatiently._ "_Just cut it, and I _promise _I wont tell the other fags you cut my Armani shirt with scissors."

At this, Dotcom gasped, bringing the scissors back from where he had been about to make the first cut down by Joker's hand. "This is Armani?" he asked loudly, the look on his face appearing as though he had just been asked to chop a baby in half, but as Joker arched an eyebrow, Dotcom rolled his eyes and brought the scissors back down with an aggravated sigh.

Down the hall in the bathroom, Jayde was just emerging from the shower, slightly surprised at how much better she was feeling after washing what felt like years of dirt and grime from her hair and body. The entire room had been filled with steam and as she approached the mirror after wrapping a towel around herself, she brought up her hand and wiped away a circle of condensation from the glass, revealing her now clean but still bruised face. She supposed, as she stared at her reflection, that she should be more shaken up, more traumatized by what had happened over the past two days, but as her mind replayed the clip of Joker finally admitting that he loved her after brutally murdering the two men who had held her hostage, she sighed with a smile, figuring that alone had erased whatever damage her situation had inflicted.

After changing into the most comfortable, clean set of pajamas she owned and after she had purposely applied Joker's warm, gray, zip-up cotton hoodie, she left the bedroom and walked out into the living room, her eyes immediately spotting Joker sitting at the table shirtless while Dotcom stood next to him, leaned down and staring at his arm. The overwhelming scent of something delicious was the second thing Jayde noticed and just as her stomach growled loudly enough to bring the entire house down, her eyes met Joker's before he smirked. However, a second later, he jumped, hissing a sharp breath in through his teeth as Dotcom clumsily poured alcohol over his wound.

"_Damn!" _he groaned loudly, turning his head to look down at what Jayde now saw was a three inch long, fairly deep gash along his arm where the bullet had apparently grazed him. "Can I get a warning next time?" At this, Dotcom stood straight up, tossing his arms in exasperation as he dropped a bloody wad of gauze onto the table.

"I've never done this before, ok?" he cried, placing his hands stubbornly on his hips. "This was always Kelly's job, remember?"

"Yeah, and Kelly's dead so I'm having to make do with the 'B-team', yeah?" Joker growled before he nodded at his arm again. "Get that bottle of hydrogen peroxide, soak another piece of gauze in it then dab it on there." he then instructed, but before Dotcom moved to obey, he turned to Jayde.

"I made you some soup, sweetie, it's right there." he told her, motioning toward the other end of the table with his elbow, where Jayde now spotted a large bowl of steaming, thick soup. Her stomach gave another angry growl so she moved toward it and sat down, instantly reaching out for the spoon to begin eating, although she was finding it hard to take her eyes from Joker's strong, rather muscular yet wounded arm. She had never noticed it before then, but the Joker had one prominent vein that ran down the front of his bicep, leaving Jayde sorely tempted to walk over and go run her hands all over his warm chest...But then again, her stomach was practically cramping it was so empty so she peeled her eyes away and began to eat.

Despite the fact that it was from a can, Jayde could swear that she had never eaten anything so absolutely delicious in her life and as she swallowed the first few spoonfuls of the dark, savory broth, she sighed contentedly through her nose, closing her eyes as she reveled in the warmth that spread through her. But as she slowly opened her eyes a moment later, only to find both Joker and Dotcom staring at her from across the table, their eyebrows raised, she slowly grinned as her cheeks began to blush.

"Shut up, it's really good..." she murmured even though they had not said anything and she reached back out for her spoon as Dotcom laughed and Joker smirked. A moment later, Joker jumped when Dotcom suddenly reached out and placed that pad of gauze on his wound with a bit more force than he had been expecting.

"Sorry!" he exclaimed, taking a step back but Joker was already fanning his hands at him irritably.

"No, you're fired, get 'atta here," he answered, shaking his head. "I'll just finish it myself...Think I'm 'bout to let you get near me with a needle...out your fucking mind..." he was now grumbling to himself as he turned to the table and Jayde looked over at Dotcom when she felt him look at her, only to find that he was grinning as both were reminded strongly of the way Tre used to rant under his breath like that. A second later, Dotcom turned back to Joker.

"Fine, then I'm going to smoke."

And with that, he grabbed his coat from the back of the remaining empty chair and walked over to the front door with his nose held high, to disappear beyond it and out onto the porch. Across from her, Joker was shaking his head as he focused on pulling a set of latex gloves onto his hands and Jayde watched as he finished doing this, only to unwrap that small spool of surgical sutures to begin threading it through the end of a long, curved, incredibly sharp-looking needle. She arched an eyebrow as she took another sip of the broth.

"You're really going to do that yourself?" she asked, watching now as Joker raised his eyes to look across the table at her. His eyebrows rose a moment later.

"_You _wanna do it?" he asked, a tiny smirk tugging upward on his scars but as Jayde hastily shook her head no, that smirk dropped dramatically. "Then _yes, _I'm going to do it myself."

From across the table, Jayde watched with interest, in between bites as Joker began stitching up the wound in his arm, first piercing one side of the gash before threading it through to the other side, in almost the exact same fashion as he had done to her face over a year ago. He seemed to be holding his breath but as the needle passed through his skin, he exhaled heavily, shaking his head roughly before he went back to focusing intently on his arm. From the way the table had started to shake slightly, Jayde figured that he had started bouncing his knee but she ignored it as she took another bite of soup.

For several minutes, she watched in between bites as Joker continued sewing his arm and several times, he had to pause and look away, take a few deep breaths to steady himself before he went back at it, groaning under his breath as he forced the needle back through his skin. But just as he was about to finish the row and tie the knot at the end, he stopped abruptly and looked over to where Jayde now sat quietly watching him from behind her nearly empty bowl of soup. He sighed, smirking.

"See, _this _is how I _know _ I love you.." he started and Jayde tried hard to ignore the almost painful way her heart fluttered. "You can sit there and _eat_ while you watch me give myself stitches." he then added, grinning as Jayde blushed and shrugged her shoulders, grinning wildly as Joker shook his head a moment later, reaching back up to his arm to pick up the needle again. "Fuckin' _perfect, _I tell ya..." he then mumbled under his breath to no one in particular.

With her stomach now full and content, Jayde's desire for a cigarette was now practically overwhelming as she had just gone over two days without one, but of course, seeing how Joker was still working on his arm, still finishing the sutures on the wound he had acquired while saving her life, she felt rather bad about getting up and leaving him there alone. However, almost as soon as this thought passed through her mind, Joker glanced over from his arm before he nodded his head toward the front door.

"Go smoke," he instructed as though he had been reading her mind. "I'm sure you're jonesin' over there..."

So with verbal permission to leave him, Jayde rose from the table with a grin at how easily Joker could read her but walking to the door, she paused on the other side of the table, just in front of him as he looked up slowly from his arm. His gaze immediately flickered from her eyes down to her lips, clearly hoping she was about to lean down and since Jayde knew he had always been the slightest bit uncomfortable with asking verbally for affection, she met him halfway. Leaning down a bit, she leaned in and lightly kissed his lips, before pulling away to smile warmly once he had opened his eyes. However a second later, he rolled his eyes, reaching up to push her away from him gently.

"Go," he grunted. "I'll come out when I'm done."

Dotcom looked up from lighting a second cigarette as Jayde stepped out onto the patio, that silly grin still stuck stubbornly to her face but as she noticed him watching her, she shook her head and moved to walk past him to the far chair, knowing exactly what he was about to say. Fortunately, he waited until she had finished lighting her own cigarette before he opened his mouth.

"So...what happened? Like...at the warehouse?" he asked, his voice lowered as though he fully expected to find Joker standing on the other side of the door with his ear pressed to it. But as Jayde looked over at him, he shook his head quickly. "Sorry, if you don't wanna talk about it, that's totally fine." he then added, reaching out to his left to tap a bit of ash from the end of his cigarette. Despite how unshaken she was by the recent events, Jayde honestly did not know whether or not she was completely ready to recount what had happened to Charlie and his brother at the hands of the Joker and she appreciated Dotcom's understanding of this, but as she thought through what had happened immediately after the killings, she turned to him, struggling hard to keep her grin at more of a smirk than a full blown smile.

"He told me he loves me."

To her surprise, instead of the gay '_awwww!' _she had been expecting, she frowned when Dotcom tossed his arms, rolling his eyes heavily.

"Well it's about damn _time!" _ he exclaimed, his voice still quiet. "I mean, he's only been in love with you from the moment he lay eyes on you...It's about time he admitted it." At this, Dotcom paused to take a drag from his cigarette, completely missing the giant smile that had once again begun attacking Jayde's face but after he exhaled his smoke, he looked over again, raising his eyebrows. "Now that that's out of the way, could you guys _please _stop arguing? Ya'll are givin' me gray hairs..."

At this, Jayde laughed and was just about to reply that she did not think arguing was anywhere in the near future plans for she and Joker when the front door opened and the man on topic stepped out, sliding his newly bandaged arm into his long black coat. It seemed he had thought to put on one of his tighter long sleeved shirts to hold the bandage in place and now appeared perfectly warm as he took a few steps toward Jayde and wiggled his fingers, motioning that she should get up to let him sit down. Jayde obeyed but from the way Dotcom had just opened his mouth with a frown, it seemed he was about to scold Joker for how rude that had been. However a moment later, as Joker reached out to place his hands on either side of Jayde's waist and pull her down onto his lap, she grinned when Dotcom immediately shut his mouth and looked away, smiling to himself.

As Joker glanced up at Jayde, he watched momentarily as she lifted her cigarette to her lips, to take a deep drag and he wondered vaguely if he felt like smoking a whole one to himself or if he thought one or hits from hers might be enough. But as he continued to watch as she brought the cigarette back to her lips only a few seconds later, to take another deep hit, he reached out to pull his own from the pack, figuring he would just let her have that one to herself, seeing how it had been over two days since she had last smoked.

The smoke from the cigarette filled his lungs as he inhaled deeply, unable to stop himself from reaching out with his free hand to push his cold fingers inside the front pocket of his sweatshirt Jayde was wearing in front him. Honestly, he had never really been a fan of girls wearing his clothes like this, but there was something different about Jayde, something that looked undeniably adorable wearing a pair of his long, cotton pajama pants or even one of his nice, button up shirts. As he reveled comfortably in the warm feel of her body leaned back against his chest, he sighed heavily, leaning his head forward to rest his forehead on her shoulder, currently unable to wrap his mind around how differently his night would be playing out had she been killed. As much as he hated to admit this, he would probably currently be well on his way to drinking through an entire bottle of whiskey, drunkenly planning some poorly formed scheme in which to get his revenge on the world, on fate itself for taking his two closest friends from him only a few months apart. He would have probably left the house permanently, left Chicago all together to go hunting, taking life after life until the day came when he felt his vengeance had been fulfilled...a day that likely would have never come.

But just as he was losing himself in this rather painful train of thought, a soft, warm hand slid into the pocket of his sweatshirt atop his own, a delicate set of fingers linking gently together with his larger ones, bringing him back up to earth. His scars twitched upward in a poorly stifled smirk before he lightly nudged the back of Jayde's shoulder with the bridge of his nose. He had never been more thankful for the presence of one particular human being in his entire life.

The porch, over the past fifteen minutes had grown incredibly quiet as the magnitude of the past days events set in, leaving all three of them extraordinarily tired, too exhausted to even begin thinking of some conversation to start. At some point, Jayde had finished her cigarette and was now sitting sideways in Joker's lap, leaned heavily against him with her side against his chest, her forehead rested against his neck. In the chair next to the door, Dotcom was barely able to keep his eyes open and Joker was struggling with much of the same as he sat with his cheek rested against the top of Jayde's head. The time was now nearing one in the morning and all three had _just _about completely slipped off to sleep, right there on the porch, out in the cold when a loud car alarm startled them all to consciousness.

Dotcom jumped with a gasp while Jayde did the same, sitting up with such a start that Joker's head was rocked backward and he groaned, forcing his eyes open as Jayde sat up on his lap, yawning. Across from them, Dotcom was shaking his head roughly.

"Alright, if I don't get some sleep soon, I'm going to pass out..." he mumbled, moving his glasses to the top of his head, to begin rubbing one eye with a balled fist. He looked to Joker with his remaining eye. "Is it alright if I crash in Tre's old bed?"

Despite how utterly exhausted she was feeling, Jayde could not help the slight thrill of angst that shot through her as she turned her head to look back at Joker. He was halfway through a yawn of his own when, to her surprise, he nodded, clearing his throat sleepily as his mouth closed again.

"I don't care," he replied a moment later, his voice low and raspy enough to carpet Jayde in goosebumps; even just over the past two days, she had so missed the sound of what she affectionately referred to as his 'sleepy voice'.

Within seconds, Dotcom had stood up and gone inside, leaving just Joker and Jayde on the porch to look at each other and blink wearily several times but just as she was about to open her mouth to ask if he was ready for bed, he beat her to it.

"So...you're gonna carry me to bed right?" he asked with every ounce of seriousness in his voice, but when Jayde shook her head in reply, she laughed quietly as Joker groaned and rolled his eyes back, dropping his head against the back of the chair behind him. "_Fine..."_ he then growled, reaching out with both arms to place one beneath her knees, while the other fit behind her back. And with that, he stood from the chair, picking her up with him to carry her toward the open door and into the house.

Try as she might, Jayde could not stop herself from grinning stupidly against his shirt, practically holding her breath to keep from giggling as her man once again displayed his seemingly unknown talent for making her feel weightless and as they rounded the corner into the bedroom, this giggle finally escaped as he dropped her far less than gently onto the bed. She bounced slightly and was just about to crawl to her usual place on the far side when she noticed Joker turning to leave the room. That grin slid instantly from her face.

"Are you not coming to bed?" she asked, sitting up on the mattress to fold her legs Indian-style, frowning up at him slightly as he turned to look back at her over his shoulder.

"I'm just gonna go throw the bloody stuff away and lock the doors," he explained, his voice still gruff with sleepiness. "By the time you lay down, I'll be back so...relax." And with that, he disappeared, leaving Jayde to once again smile rather excitedly to herself, turning quickly to crawl toward her usual side of the bed.

There truly were not enough words in the English language to describe how absolutely heavenly Joker's purple sheets felt against her exhausted, somewhat achy body as she slid between them and just as her head made contact with the pillow, a heavy, highly audible sigh of comfort left her. Her eyes could barely stay open at this point, but she forced them to stay that way as she watched the light falling through door start to dim, as Joker walked through the house and turned off lights as he went. Only a few seconds later, his tall, dark form appeared in the way, where he stopped to close the door behind him before moving toward the bed where Jayde lay, anxiously awaiting the feel of him laying close to her. However, just as Jayde was about to scoot more toward his side of the bed in anticipation, she frowned vaguely, turning onto her back as Joker stopped at the foot of the bed. He pointed at her a second later.

"You sleep on my side tonight," he instructed, but instead of moving to obey him instantly, like she normally did, she hesitated, sitting up. Joker seemed to predict her next question as he went on. "I don't wanna have to sleep on my stitches." Although this made sense, Jayde's frown deepened as she glanced at the space to the right of her where Joker usually slept.

"If you lay on your right side, you wont have t-..." she went to explain, but just as she was getting the words out of her mouth, she realized that Joker had clearly already thought this through and had apparently decided that he did not want to have to sleep with his back to her that night. That grin from earlier returned to her face but instead of calling him out on this and therefore making him feel supremely awkward and itchy, she cut herself short and moved over to his normal side of the bed. The moment she lay down, she was immediately glad they had decided to switch; Joker's pillow smelled absolutely divine.

Across from her, to her left, Joker was sliding into place, groaning contentedly as he wiggled slightly to get between the sheets. A low, deep hum escaped him as he turned onto his side to face her. "Mmm...already warm..." he mumbled, grinning against the pillow when he could practically hear Jayde pouting. "C'mere..." he then added, pushing himself up onto the elbow of his uninjured arm before he reached out with his left, curling his fingers around her waist to pull her across the mere foot of space between them until she was right up against him on her back.

The moonlight falling into the room from the window behind the bed was casting shadows across Jayde's face as she lay beneath Joker, sliding her eyes closed in pure comfort as his fingertips gently slid into the front of her hair, to begin lightly tracing circles against her scalp, as if she needed some coaxing to fall asleep. Even with her eyes closed, Jayde was positive he was staring down at her, watching her face from behind half-lidded, brown eyes and as she looked up at him a few moments later, her heart fluttered hard when his lips slowly curved upward into a grin. She reached out, placing her hand gently on his forearm that was now draped across her middle.

"I'm so glad you came to get me," she practically whispered to him in the darkness, watching as his gaze drifted upward to where his fingers were still entwined in her hair. He shrugged rather nonchalantly, his smirk expanding.

"I didn't have anything else to do," he answered, grinning fully when Jayde's bottom lip pushed out playfully. "And besides, who was gonna mismatch my socks if I didn't, hm?"

At this, Jayde giggled quietly, reaching up to thread her fingers into the back of his loose, wavy green hair, applying gentle pressure until he leaned down, brushing his lips lightly against hers before he met them fully and parted his own to kiss her. Jayde withheld a sigh of sheer happiness at the familiar, wonderful taste of him and the feel of that perfect, deep scar along his bottom lip, to instead respond gently but with as much love and appreciation for what he had done as she could manage. Joker seemed to feel this in her kiss as his thumb gently stroked her hairline before he pulled away, leaving another soft kiss on her lips before he opened his eyes. Jayde did the same to look up at him, only to watch as his gaze focused on her lips, eyeing them as he seemed to struggle with something. Hoping to coax it out of him again, Jayde reached up, gently placing her hand against his cheek, to trace the top portion of his scar with her thumb. He brought his own hand up to rest over hers a second later, linking his fingers with hers to pull her hand away from his cheek.

"I hope you know...I meant what I said.." he mumbled, his eyes still struggling to focus on anything but her eyes as she gazed up at him. Despite how vague his phrasing had been, Jayde knew exactly to what he was referring but stayed quiet none the less, hoping he would go on. After a long pause, he did. "I _do..._love you."

Jayde smiled, absolutely and strangely in love with the way it was still fairly hard for him to say that, even though it was clearly how he truly felt and in an effort to get him to start getting used to saying it, she reached up, tucking one of his loose, green curls behind his ear.

"Say it again," she instructed quietly, her smile expanding to show some of her teeth when she noticed Joker's eyes narrow down at her in the dark, as though he were seconds from telling her to go to sleep. But to her immense surprise, he forced his eyes to meet hers.

"I love you."

Finally, Jayde leaned up to peck him once lightly on the lips before she lay back down and grinned up at him adoringly. "I love you too, Joker."

After one last sleepy kiss, Jayde turned onto her side with her back to his chest, resting her head on his arm as they both got comfortable. But just as Jayde heard him take a deep breath in from behind her, she turned her head slightly, looking back at him over her shoulder.

"Say it again." she murmured. Joker grunted a second later.

"Don't push it, kiddo."

And with that, Jayde grinned herself to sleep.

When she woke the next morning, her arms stretched out before her, across the bed although she frowned slightly before opening her eyes, only to find herself a foot or so from the edge of the bed, laying on her right side. A moment later, she exhaled sleepily, remembering vaguely that she and Joker had decided to switch places the previous night. But as she turned slowly onto her back to a brightly lit bedroom, she blinked furiously, stretching her left arm out beside her; the bed was empty. With another heavy sigh, she rolled her eyes. It just figured the morning after her miraculous rescue from the clutches of madmen, Joker would have already found something that needed his attention more than she did.

However just as she was closing her eyes again to try and drift off for another few minutes, the sound of the bedroom door opening caused her eyes to pop right back open. She did not even have to look; the scent that preceded Joker into the room told her quite plainly that he had just emerged from a shower and was quite likely dripping wet in a towel. Turning onto her side, Jayde allowed herself to peek over, but only to grin when she spotted him, standing in front of the dresser, shirtless, in a clean pair of jeans, his head bowed as he rifled through the top drawer of undershirts and Jayde's personal favorite, his v-neck t-shirts.

She watched him for several moments, the lower half of her face hidden beneath the warm comforter as she grinned wildly to herself, but just as he was about to unfold the shirt he had selected and put it on, he stopped when his eyes spotted her, watching him with those big blue eyes. The smirk that immediately tugged upward on his scars was truly hard to miss.

_"Hiiiii..."_ he rasped, dropping his arms to his sides to grin cheekily at her. Jayde giggled scooting down further into the sheets as he stepped over to the bed, to pull himself up onto it and lean over her. The wet ends of his hair dripped water onto the comforter beneath him, causing Jayde to squint when one of them landed on her cheek.

"Hi," she answered, opening her eyes again to smile up at him. "You're up early."

Turning his head, Joker glanced at the small alarm clock on his nightstand before he shrugged, looking back down at her. "Not really, it's already eleven." he explained. "Plus Dotcom is about to leave and I _kinda_ told him I'd help put all that computer stuff back in the truck before he left..._Women_._"_ he then grumbled with a heavy roll of his eyes. Jayde laughed but frowned only a few seconds later, reaching up with one hand to let her fingers lightly grip his upper arm, a few inches below what she now saw was a neat row of sutures, holding together that deep wound from the night before.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, pulling her eyes from the stitches up to his face. He shrugged, shaking his head.

"I've felt worse." he answered nonchalantly. Jayde definitely believed him.

After Joker had finished getting dressed and after Jayde had dragged herself from beneath the warm blankets, she stumbled into a pair of jeans but did not bother to take Joker's sweatshirt off from over her long-sleeved shirt and instead, walked out through the living room to the kitchen where she found Dotcom, just stowing his laptop and charger into a black leather bag. He looked up and smiled once he saw it was her.

"I can't even tell you how glad I am that you're here," he told her with a laugh, reaching out one arm to wrap it around her shoulders while Jayde moved forward to wrap her own arm behind his back. "But no more going over to strange guys' apartments, ok?" he went on to request with another laugh.

"_You're damn right about that!" _both heard Joker shout from somewhere in the house behind them and they laughed, stepping out into the garage where Jayde now spotted Tre's giant black truck sitting next to her Corvette.

"I promise, never again," she told him, turning to face him as he did the same and both moved forward to throw their arms around each other, to hug tightly for several long seconds before they broke away, sniffling girlishly. Jayde laughed a moment later, bringing Joker's sleeve to her cheek to wipe away the single tear that had escaped. "Call me when you get home, ok?" she requested, taking a step back as Dotcom opened the driver's door to climb in and sit down. He nodded through the window, winking quickly at her before the deafening rumble of the engine filled the garage.

As the truck backed out into the driveway, Jayde followed, sliding her hands into her back pockets to walk after the hood of the truck until she had almost reached the street. There, she stopped, raising one hand to wave as Dotcom honked the loud horn, and with that, the truck turned and began gaining distance down Lincoln avenue. Jayde watched it go for several long moments, that content smile still plastered to her face, but as a surprisingly gentle hand came to rest on her opposite shoulder, she jumped slightly and looked up, her grin expanding when her eyes met Joker's. He was smirking down at her, but only for a second or two before he looked up, turning his head to watch as the red tail lights of Tre's truck finally turned and disappeared from sight. Jayde took a deep breath before she exhaled heavily.

"So I guess it's really over now," she stated somewhat sadly, but as she felt Joker turn his head to again look down at her, she did the same, lifting her eyes to meet his amber browns. That characteristic, Cheshire cat grin stretched his scars as he moved his arm to fully drape around her shoulders and he leaned on her, inhaling deeply as he gazed off down the street.

"On the contrary, dear..." he began, once again turning his head to look down at her. "We're only just gettin' started."


	27. Credit Given Where Credit Due

I just wanted to take this time, this chapter, this empty space to thank everyone who has had something to do with helping me put these three stories out. I posted the first chapter of _The Sweetest Vice _on April 4th, 2009, with not many readers, only two previously published (admittedly not well-written) stories and a big idea for a Joker/OC story. I started writing, just figuring to myself that I would just sort of see where it went and if I felt it sucked after a few chapters, I would delete it and start something else. But as the chapters went on, the more response I started getting, the more readers I started gathering, until by the time I finished the third story of the JnJ saga, I had just short of 300,000 hits on all three stories collectively, nearly 700 reviews and more thank you's and shout-outs than I know what to do with. So let me give it a shot...

My first two beta readers, all the way back in the very beginning of Sweetest Vice-

_Andra and Kiharu. _They encouraged me to keep going, even when I felt no one was reading my story, even when I wanted to scrap everything and say fuck it. Thanks ladies!

One of my best friends in real life, _Amie Mae, _for listening to my rantings-on about Sweetest Vice, for staying up all hours of the night and reading everything I wrote before I posted it. I love you much, darling.

My darling friend _Martin, _for being my inspiration for the character of _Dotcom. _You look nothing like your counterpart but your flamboyant ways helped me really nail his character. I love you, boo boo.

My favorite black guy, _Steve-O, _for being the most perfect inspiration for _Tre's _character. He really became an extremely important part of the trilogy and I could not have written him nearly as well without thinking of 'yo black ass'. Thanks a lot, bruh.

To _Miss Ella Jane_, my bestest best friend in real life, for patiently listening to my constant, audible brainstorming sessions and offering your advice and critique along the way, supplying me with ideas and inspiration whenever my thinker was running low. You are such an important person to me and my life and I could not have continued with this story for so long if you had not encouraged me to keep going and offered me constructive criticism when I needed it most. You helped me put songs on my playlists, looked through pictures of my characters with me, read everything I sent to you for a second opinion and I can not thank you enough for the outstanding patience you have shown me over the past three years. I love you with all my heart. = ]

To _Lacey, ClownQween69, _for making me countless pictures of Heath as the Joker, Emily Didonato as Jayde, adding scars, changing hair color, cropping backgrounds, editting clothing, and again, having more patience with me than I could never have possessed myself. Haha You stayed up late with me, allowing me to gush over 'this one part I just wrote', reading everything I sent you, sending me sneak peeks to your stories. We don't agree on much of anything but one thing we do, is the Joker. I'm so glad to have found someone who shares my passion for that character and has no problem sitting around, talking and writing for hours on end. I love ya, chick. = ]

To _Mister Heath Ledger, _for being my sole inspiration for the Joker. Your interpretation of that villain has sparked so much creativity in so many people and I sincerely hope you are resting peacefully in whatever heaven you believed in. You have so many loyal and loving fans that adore you and miss you and the least we can do is pay tribute to your legacy in our stories. Thank you so much for being such an inspiration to not only myself, but to millions of people the world over. We all love you.

And last but most certainly not least, I'd like to thank YOU. Each and every one of you who has ever read, reviewed or even taken a second glance at my stories over the past three years. If it were not for the outstanding support I've received, I would have scrapped everything a long time ago and would not have met half of the people I've know now through the writing of this story. I truly love writing things that entertain people and hope that if you've taken nothing else from my stories that you have at least caught a bit of the writing bug and have started to write your own stories, no matter what genre. Creativity, in my opinion, is contagious. If we keep writing and reading, the world will keep learning and true art will never be lost. So if you have an idea, write it down, turn it into something and keep it going. I promise you, it will be worth it, whether in three days, weeks, months or even years, you will feel satisfied when you look back and see your work.

Again, thank you so much for reading my stories, especially thanks to those who have left me a review over the past three stories and I can guarantee, THIS WILL NOT BE THE LAST FROM ME. You can count on that...

All of my love and thanks, The Queen of Mean


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